E! All The Wrong Places
by harrimaniac27
Summary: -AU- Johnny and Roy have to deal with the Crazy Cat lady of Carson City, and Johnny's teasing gets him into a little trouble with Roy. Valentine's day is coming up, and Dr. Brackett's hitting on Dixie. Roy is pursued by a Rampart nurse, and Dr. Early meets a girl he knew in high school. Just for fun. -SLASH- (Constructive criticism welcome, non-constructive reviews will be removed)
1. CH 1 Hurt Pride

All the Wrong Places  
By George Glisson

ALTERNATE REALITY:  
CONDITIONS-  
ROY IS NOT MARRIED  
ROY HAS NEVER MET JOANNE  
KELLY BRACKETT AND DIXIE McCALL ARE NOT TOGETHER (YET)  
DIFFERENT (MADE-UP) STREET NAMES

CHAPTER 1- HURT PRIDE

-%-

"Look, now don't be so hard on yourself, Roy! She...well...she was out of line, and you did the right-"

"Look, Johnny, I appreciate you trying to cheer me up, but let's face it...I've got worse luck with women than you do..."

"Now, wait just a minute-" Fireman and Paramedic Johnny Gage started to say, but he was interrupted by the echo of the call alarm.

"Squad 51, unknown-type rescue. 1121 West Harper. 1121 West Harper. Cross street, Applewood. Time out, 20:04."

The two men rushed out of the locker room and into the garage, Johnny stopped to write down the address and the conditions of the call. He picked up the transmitter.

"Squad 51, 10-4. KMG, 365."

Johnny took care of the garage door, hopped into the passenger's seat of the squad truck and showed the paper to Roy. Roy checked the address and pulled out of the garage just as the fire truck was returning. He switched on the sirens, then furrowed his brows and looked at Johnny.

"1121 West Harper? Why does that sound..." Roy trailed off. Then his eyes went wide. He looked at Johnny. "Please don't tell me-"

"Yup...it's _her_ again...The crazy cat lady..." Johnny said, a bit of dread in his voice.

"Ah, great..." Roy said, rolling his eyes. "I wonder what's happened _this_ time..."

This "crazy cat lady" as they called her was about 84 years old, she was missing some teeth, and she lived in a house all by herself...except for her 15 cats of course. She had a bit of a reputation around the station as being a bit blind and senile...

As the squad pulled up in front of a modestly large house in front of a park, a frantic, and very old woman rushed outside to greet the two paramedics with a flurry of hurried words-the crazy cat lady herself.

"Oh, help! Help! My poor kitties are stuck! Help! You've got to do something, please! Help!"

Roy and Johnny didn't even grab the biophone and the drug box. They just jogged up to the house and followed the old woman in. They hadn't gotten but two steps into the house when they saw what the old woman was fussing about.

"...I see it...but I don't believe it," Johnny said, shaking his head.

"Well?" The old woman's shrill voice cried. "Aren't you going to do something to help my poor kitties?"

Roy and Johnny hesitated. Two of this woman's cats had gotten themselves stuck inside of her Jukebox and were mewing incessantly and pawing the glass.

"How exactly did they get in there?" Roy asked. He couldn't have been standing but a foot away from her.

"What was that? Speak up so that people can hear you, sonny!"

"_How, exactly, did they get in there?_" Roy said, raising his voice a little.

"Well, I don't know!" The old woman said irritably. "If I did, I wouldn't have needed to call you boys, now would I?" She stood there with her hands on her hips, tapping her foot impatiently. "So, what are you going to do about this, hmm? It is your _job_ to help, isn't it?"

"Do you have a key to it?" Roy asked the old woman.

"What? Speak up!"

"_I said, do you have a key to it?_" Roy raised his voice only a little more.

"Alright, you don't have to yell! ...I lost it about 15 minutes ago, now stop asking stupid questions and save my poor kitties, young man!"

Roy looked at Johnny and sighed.

"I...guess we could break the glass-"

"You'll do nothing of the sort, young man! Pick the lock if you must, but do NOT break my precious record machine!"

Johnny closed his eyes and shook his head before asking, "Do...you have a hairpin?"

"What!"

"A HAIRPIN," Johnny said, raising his voice.

"Alright, you don't have to _shout_, young man, I can hear you perfectly fine! ...the nerve...talking to his elders like that...I _never_..."

The old woman rushed off to her room, muttering something to herself, but she did come back in a minute with a hairpin.

Johnny took the hairpin and bent it a little, then stuck the hairpin into the lock.

"Well? What's taking you so long, young man?"

"I haven't even started to pick the lock yet, ma'am. Please be patient." Johnny said, trying to keep the frustration from his voice.

15 minutes and 7 shrill inquiries later, the lock clicked and Johnny lifted up the glass window to the jukebox. Two hissing balls of fur came charging out, yowling and scratching. The orange tabby scratched at Johnny and got him on the hand before running at full speed down the hall.

"There now, you just put that Jukebox right back the way you found it, young man...my poor little angels...I _never_..." The crazy cat lady toddled down the hall after her little "angels", muttering to herself.

Johnny scowled and stalked towards the door.

"Come on, Roy, let's get out of here..."

Roy and Johnny went back to the squad and started it up, pulling away from the house a second later.

"You know, she's so senile, I think _she_ locked them in there! ...Every day, it's something new...and always end up...bailing her out..." Johnny said, a tinge of anger in his voice. He examined the scratch on his hand. "And this is the thanks I get...how come they always scratch me, and they never scratch you!"

"I guess it's because I don't volunteer to get them out of...wherever they've gotten stuck...and I don't get too close. I'm a dog person, not a cat person."

Johnny scoffed and looked out the window. "That's it, then...I'm not volunteering next time...You can't make me..."

"Listen, why don't we stop off at Rampart? We can get some supplies...and have Nurse McCall take a look at that terrible gash on-"

"I'm _fine_, alright? It's...just a...scratch." Johnny said, looking reproachful and cradling his hand.

Roy couldn't help but laugh. This earned him a severe glare from Johnny Gage.

Roy and Johnny walked into Rampart Emergency and headed to the supply counter. Johnny was still cradling his hand.

"What's wrong, Johnny?" Nurse Dixie McCall asked.

Johnny just grimaced, dropped his hand to his side, walked over to the nurse at the cabinets and proceeded to ask for the supplies they needed (and the nurse's number).

"Aw, he's alright," Roy said, smiling. "Just a few scratches and some hurt pride."

Dixie smiled knowingly and walked over to Johnny, who had obviously just been turned down by the nurse he was trying to pull. He was brooding a little too intensely over the stack of supplies, and Dixie could see the fresh cat-scratch on his hand.

"Let me see your hand, Johnny..." Dixie said, gently taking Johnny's hand. Johnny let her take it, but he pursed his lips into a scowl.

"Oh my, what happened here?" Dixie said, examining his hand as if he had gangrenes. Pretty soon, Johnny had had enough and pulled his hand away from her, scowling all the while.

"Now, Johnny, how about letting me fix that right up, huh?" Dixie said with a smile.

Johnny kept right on scowling, but he let her put a band-aid on his hand.

"There..." Dixie said, stepping back to admire her work. She looked at Roy. "It was touch-and-go there for a while, Roy, but I think our patient's gonna be alright."

Roy smiled. "Thank you, nurse. I'll make sure he gets plenty of rest."

Johnny shook his head and dumped the supplies in Roy's hands. "You two cut it out, will you?"

Roy and Dixie exchanged amused glances. Roy shook his head and followed Johnny out to the Squad.

LATER THAT DAY...

"Hey, Roy...Hey, _Roy_!" Fireman Chet Kelly called into the dorm.

"What! I'm trying to get some sleep here..." Roy said irritably.

"It's only 8:00!" Chet said.

Roy sat up and glared at Chet. "Look, I don't care if it's 8:00 or midnight! I'm _trying_ to get some-"

"Alright, alright! Goodness...I just came in here to let you know that there's a call for you...a Magdeline..."

Roy groaned, rolled his eyes and fell back onto the bed, covering his head with his pillow. "Take a message," he said, muffled under the pillow.

"Alright...Your loss..." Chet said, shrugging. "You know, she sounds like a real sweetheart-"

"Well, she's not," Roy said, sitting up again and putting the pillow back where it belonged. "Now leave me alone, will you?"

Chet raised both hands in defeat and walked out of the room, almost crashing into Johnny.

"Oh, _sorry_ Johnny," Chet said unconvincingly.

"Hah. You're never sorry," Johnny said, poking Chet in the ribs. He was obviously in a better mood then he had been that morning.

"Oww..." Chet said reproachfully. "You could apologise...or at least...watch where you're going..." He mumbled before leaving the room, rubbing his ribs and glaring at Johnny. He muttered something distasteful as he walked off, but Johnny wasn't paying him even a shred of attention.

"Hey, how you doing?" Johnny said, plopping himself onto his bed-the bed right next to Roy's.

"Well, I was trying to get some sleep before we go on another call, but around here, I guess that's a foolish notion." Roy said, defeated. He caught himself glaring at a spot on the ceiling.

"...Is this about that Magdeline girl?" Johnny asked after a pause.

Roy rolled his eyes. Johnny was about to start ribbing him about this...he just knew it. He suddenly regretted telling him about Magdeline in the first place...

"Look, I don't wanna talk about it, Johnny-"

Johnny smiled. "No, you look...all I was gonna say-"

Roy closed his eyes. "Johnny!"

"Seriously, Roy! All I was gonna say was that...well, maybe women aren't your thing!" Johnny said, a mischievous smirk on his face.

Roy was quiet for a minute as he let Johnny's words echo through his mind. He hesitated, then turned to Johnny, his eyebrows furrowed.

"What the heck are you talking about?"

"Hey, let's face it...you don't have much luck with women...you went through...what, four? In the past week?" Johnny said, his mischievous smirk growing wider.

"So!" Roy said, glaring at his partner.

"So...Well, all I'm saying is that, maybe you should...rethink your options..."

Roy stared at Johnny for a long time.

"My options?" He finally said, his tone incredulous.

"Yeah! Maybe, uh...maybe you'd like men better." Johnny said, smiling his crooked smile. "Hey, you'll never know until you try, huh?" He said with a laugh, elbowing at Roy playfully.

He was obviously teasing, but Roy got an idea right then and there that would surely shut him up.

He pretended to think about it for a second, then gave Johnny a sideways look.

"Maybe you're right." He said, a hungry look flashing behind his eyes. That wiped the stupid smile right off of Johnny's face.

"I am?" Johnny asked, his face concerned. He was suddenly sorry he'd said anything.

Roy slowly got up and walked over to Johnny's bed.

"W-what are you doing, Roy?"

"Maybe I _would_ like men better..." He pinned Johnny to the bed, hands on his wrists. This would stop the teasing for sure...

"Roy?" Johnny said trepeditiously, eyes wide. "I...I was just kidding you! Y-you understand that, right? D-do-don't you? _R-roy_!"

Roy had never seen Johnny so scared before in his life...not even when they were 150 feet up in the air, stopping a man from jumping off of a crane...or being shot at on the top of an eleven-story building...or about to be wiped out by a bomb...he was always so cool under pressure...

But not this time.

Roy immediately felt a twinge of guilt over what he was about to do, but he forged on. Johnny needed a lesson in teasing that he wouldn't soon forget.

Roy stooped down and let his lips linger over Johnny's for a moment. Johnny was too scared to move. He swallowed hard before Roy's lips came down onto his. He squeezed his eyes shut as Roy's lips moved against his for a moment.

Roy's heart was pounding. It didn't really...feel any different than kissing a girl...well, except that Johnny was holding his breath...and his lips were shut up tighter than a drum...

Roy knew he should stop now, but...he didn't want to...and that was scaring him just as much as he imagined Johnny was at the moment.

Johnny's face went a few shades darker as he struggled to hold his breath. Pretty soon, he could take it no longer and opened his mouth to take a breath. Roy took the opportunity to catch Johnny's lower lip between his. It tasted so...sweet...

Johnny whimpered and turned his head away, struggling against Roy.

"W-what...what the hell are you trying to do, huh? Kill me?" Johnny said in a low, husky voice, hoping no one else would hear. He gave Roy a very reproachful look.

Roy let go of Johnny and stepped back. He just couldn't look at him.

_Oh, now you've done it, Roy DeSoto..._He thought.i_You've ruined your friendship for good-_

Roy interrupted his own thoughts. "Hey, I was just...you know, playing along..." He smiled and laughed a little, but he couldn't hide the fact that he was just as shaken, if not worse, than Johnny was. He paused, feeling Johnny's eyes burning holes in his forehead.

"...You were asking for it..." He said defensively, looking down at the floor.

"_Asking for it!_" Johnny yelled angrily (a little louder than he would have liked), making the both of them jump; the whole station was sure to have heard him. He quickly lowered his voice and spoke through gritted teeth. "I wasn't asking for it, you-"

Suddenly, the door opened, and Captain Stanley walked in, obviously having heard Johnny yell.

"What's going on in here?" He asked, a stern look on his face.

The both of them shut their mouths straight away. They both decided at that moment that the fewer who knew about this, the better.

The captain looked between the both of them expectantly.

Finally, Johnny smiled an unconvincing smile and said, "Nothing, Cap'."

_Nothing, huh?_ Roy thought. He kept his eyes on the floor.

The Captain looked between Johnny's phony smile and Roy's downcast eyes and furrowed his brows. He gave them both stern looks and said, "Alright, I'm sure you're aware that I will not tolerate any animosity between you two. The tighter the unit, the more lives are saved. If you've got a problem, deal with it, and deal with it now. I'll tell you right now that if I see _either one of you_ being unprofessional, I'll transfer you out in a heartbeat, do I make myself clear?"

Roy and Johnny were silent, but they both looked the captain straight in the eye and nodded.

The captain nodded and gave them both stern looks again before exiting the room.

Roy finally got up the guts to look at Johnny.

Johnny was giving Roy a severe look. "Listen...we're gonna forget this ever happened..." He said in a low voice. "It _never_ happened. Alright?"

Roy looked down. Yes it had. And he'd liked it. _Damn him,_ he'd liked it _a lot_.

"It...never happened," he said slowly, nodding and trying to smile. It felt as if something had just been awakened in him that he would just as soon have left sleeping...and he was terrified of the consequences.

Johnny took a deep breath and turned around in his bed, his back to Roy.

_Damn...I should've thought twice before starting something like that...h_e thought.

10:00.

Roy was just starting to doze off when he heard the call alarm blaring. Without thinking, he shoved his legs over the side of his bed and into his boots. From the sound of the tones, this wasn't going to be good.

"Station 51, Station 110, Battalion 62, Structure fire. 2571 Kniver Avenue. 2-5-7-1 Kniver Avenue. Cross street, Silver. Time out 11:21."

The captain shot out of bed and was already writing down the call info. "LA, Station 51, 10-4. KMG 365."

Roy got into the squad next to Johnny, who wouldn't look at him. The captain handed a paper to Roy, who read it, and handed it off to Johnny. Johnny took it, looked at it, and set it in his lap as he put his helmet on. Beside the fact that Johnny seemed to be giving him the silent treatment, things seemed to be back to business as usual.

Roy switched on the sirens and pulled out of the garage in front of the fire truck turning left onto the dark street.

* * *

_AN_:  
DISCLAIMER  
This is just for fun...I'm not trying to mess with the story that has been established, I just wanted to see what might happen if I changed the conditions a bit.  
(So, please, understand...I'm only doing this for fun and I'm not trying to start anything, so...give it a chance before you shoot me...please?)  
This is just a wild, hare-brained idea I got, so if you like it, thanks in advance.

ALSO: I'd be interested to know what everyone thinks of the Crazy Cat Lady...I have a series of her crazy rescues that I could post as a separate thing...so if anyone wants to see that, just let me know.


	2. CH 2 Hearts

ALTERNATE REALITY:  
CONDITIONS-  
ROY IS NOT MARRIED  
ROY HAS NEVER MET JOANNE  
KELLY BRACKETT AND DIXIE McCALL ARE NOT TOGETHER (YET)  
DIFFERENT (MADE-UP) STREET NAMES

CHAPTER 2- HEARTS

-%-

As the squad and the truck arrived at the scene, they could see flames in the windows of the Embassy Hotel building. Thick, black smoke was billowing out and hanging in the air all around, hazing the orange glow of the street lights. The captain bounded from the truck and went to talk to the chief of Battalion 62, who was currently barking orders into his talkie.

"And engine 110, get over to the south side of the building to assist!"

"What's the situation?" The captain asked.

"Floors two and three are well-involved, and the fire's travelling 're working on evacuations, but it's going slow. There's an old man that's been giving us some trouble-complaining of chest pains...he can hardly move. He's on the fourth floor; room 407."

The captain whirled around just as the building manager ran up to the captain's side.

"He's the only one still in there! I've accounted for everyone else...please hurry!"

"Roy, Johnny; there's an old man in 407 complaining of chest pains. They haven't been able to evacuate him. He's the only one left in the building. Chet; Marco: you cover them with an inch-and-a-half!"

Chet and Marco nodded, grabbing the hose and running towards the building. Roy and Johnny quickly put on their air masks, grabbed a line, and rushed after them.

"We'll probably need a stokes and the de-fib equipment set up, Cap!" Johnny called back before putting on his mask and disappearing into the burning building.

They were only halfway up the first flight of stairs when they felt the full heat of the fire.

When they got to the fourth floor, Marco opened the door while Chet doused the threshold and inched in. The fourth floor was not fully involved, but smoke hung heavy in the air, and the crackle of the fire would be heard all around-like it was coming from the floor, walls and ceiling.

Roy and Johnny ran down each side of the hall, checking the room numbers. The numbers were getting smaller as they went.

"Hey, I found 407!" Roy called out after a minute. Johnny, Chet and Marco ran to his position; Chet holding the hose at the ready.

Roy tried the door and was surprised to find it locked. He stood back and kicked the door down, running into the room with Johnny at his heels.

There was smoke everywhere, but no sign of the old man. Roy ran back to check the bedroom and Johnny ran and checked the bathroom. He knelt next to the old man he found lying on the tile.

"Hey, I found him! He's unconscious and cyanotic! I can't find a pulse or any respirations! He looks like he ate a lot of smoke; we gotta get him outta here, now!"

"Alright!" Roy called back, running to the door. He suddenly heard a groan and the floor behind the door collapsed into the lower floor, allowing the flames to shoot up and lick at him, daring him to come closer. Chet was like a bullet-he had water on the flames before you could say Chester B. Kelly.

Roy rushed to the window and broke it, sticking his head outside and taking off his mask. The smoke stung his eyes and his throat, but he coughed and shook it off. He could barely see the outlines of the people below through the haze of the smoke.

"Hey, the floor collapsed right outside the door! We're going to need a ladder!"

"We have the snorkel on it's way up with the stokes and the de-fib equipment!" Somebody yelled back up.

"Perfect!" Roy yelled as he ducked back into the room. Johnny was administering CPR and mouth-to-mouth on the victim while Chet and Marco still battled the flames at the door.

"Johnny, they're sending up the stokes and the de-fib equipment in the snorkel. You think we can de-fib him on the way back down?"

"It'll be tricky..." Johnny said, ducking back down to continue the mouth-to-mouth. When he began compressions again, he said, "...But we're gonna have to try."

Pretty soon, they had the old man loaded into the stokes and had him on O2. When they'd gotten him loaded back onto the snorkel, Roy and Johnny went with the patient, quickly and efficiently hooking him up to the EKG monitor while one of the fireman from 62 continued compressions. Roy took out the de-fib paddles and Johnny gelled them. When the indicator reached 400 watt-seconds, Roy sprang into action.

"Clear!"

"Clear!" Johnny and the other fireman pulled their hands back.

Roy sent the electricity jolting through the old man as Johnny kept an eye on the monitor. The old man's EKG showed a dramatic drop and came back up, but subsequently, remained semi-flat.

"He's still in arrest! Hit him again!" Johnny yelled.

Roy again waited for the indicator to reach 400 watt-seconds. When it did, he pressed the paddles to the old man's chest and side.

"Clear!"

"Clear," came the response.

Roy again sent the electricity through the old man's body, causing him to sharply jolt. The snorkel shook under the force. The EKG showed a dramatic drop and came back up, but he wasn't quite in sinus rhythm.

"Hit him again, I think we almost got it..." Johnny yelled.

Roy did as he was told. The EKG again showed a dramatic drop and came back up, but finally fell into an irregular, but stable, heartbeat.

"He's back!" Johnny yelled as the snorkel stopped.

The fireman got out of the basket, dragged the stokes down and ran to the squad. Roy noticed that the captain was already on the biophone.

"Standby Rampart, they just arrived." He said into the phone.

"Hey, get his vitals," Johnny told Roy, running to the phone. "Rampart, this is 51." He said.

"What are the patent's vitals, 51?" Came Dr. Joe Early's voice.

"Standby, Rampart..." Johnny said, waving to get Roy's attention. Roy nodded.

"Pulse is weak and thready; no spontaneous respirations; BP is 90 over 40. We've got him on O2. Standing by on bicarb..."

"Rampart, BP is 90 over 40, pulse is weak and thready; no spontaneous respirations. Patient was in v-fib, but we were able to resuscitate him. He's unconscious, and we've got him on O2. Standing by with 2 amps sodium bicarb."

"51, 10-4 on the bicarb...do you still have him hooked up to the EKG?"

"That's affirmative Rampart; sending a strip-lead two."

"10-4, 51."

Roy administered the bicarb while Johnny sent the strip. After a few seconds, the response came.

"It doesn't look good, 51...is the ambulance at the scene?"

"10-4, Rampart, it just arrived."

"Transport as soon as possible. What's your ETA?"

"Ten minutes, Rampart."

"10-4, 51." said Dr. Early. Then he looked down and said to Nurse McCall, "Let's just hope he's got that long."

Roy and the orderlies rushed into the hospital, wheeling the old man along on a gurney. Dixie ran up to them.

"We're all set up in three," she said.

Roy and the orderlies nodded, rushing him into treatment room three, where Dr. Early was already waiting. Nurse McCall walked out of the room and nearly crashed into Dr. Kelly Brackett.

"Oh...Pardon me, Dix..." Dr. Brackett said distantly, furrowing his brows and looking at the door to treatment three. Dixie gave Dr. Brackett a concerned look.

"Is everything alright, Kel?" She asked.

Dr. Brackett looked as if he was trying to remember something. "I'm not sure yet...I think I know the patient they just took into three...what's wrong with him?"

Dixie looked down and shook her head. "He's not in good shape, Kel...It's his heart."

Dr. Brackett furrowed his brows again and walked past her into the treatment room. She followed him inside.

When Dr. Brackett saw the patient on the table, nearly all the colour left his face. Dixie touched his arm.

"Kel, do you know him?"

Dr. Brackett tried to swallow the lump in his throat.

"Yes. I know him."

Luckily, the Embassy Hotel structure fire was under control in less than an hour, and it was the only call they got that night. The rest of the night was spent sleeping and dreaming.

The next morning, Roy was the first one up, sitting at the table in the commons, brooding over the sports section of yesterday's newspaper.

"Morning!" Chet chimed out as he walked into the room.

"Mm..." Was the only response from Roy as he continued to brood.

"What are _you_ so happy about?" Fireman Mike Stoker asked Chet as he walked in.

"I got a date tomorrow night!" Chet said.

"Ah, really? What's her name?" Mike asked.

"Magdeline..." Chet said it as if her name was as precious as silk.

Roy rolled his eyes. Boy, was _he_ in for a surprise. He would have warned him...if he felt like it.

But he didn't, so he continued to brood.

Who knows? Maybe she was more Chet's type...clingy...controlling...needy...a little _too_ needy.

Marco walked in and sat next to Roy. He glanced at him, looked away, then looked back, his brows furrowed. "Hey, what's wrong, Roy?" He asked.

Roy shrugged and said nothing. _It never happened, that's what's wrong. _He thought. The stupid thing was, he'd never even thought of men _that_ way before Johnny had opened his big mouth..._his big, sweet mouth..._

Roy grimaced and rubbed his forehead. _I can't be thinking like that...It's just not right..._

This was all Johnny's fault, and now he couldn't get the stupid thing off his mind...this stupid thing...that was the _last_ time he taught Johnny any lessons, that's for sure...

Maybe Johnny was right...maybe it would be best to just forget about it...

"Hey Roy, you got a headache or something?" Chet asked.

"Keep talking and I will..." Roy muttered.

"What?" Chet asked, his eyebrows furrowed. "I didn't hear you..."

"Nothing, Chet...I'm just tired," Roy said, trying to smile.

At that moment, Johnny walked through the door.

"Morning, Johnny..." Marco said.

"Yeah, morning, Johnny...you look like a train wreck with your hair like that..." Chet said.

Johnny made like he was pushing some imaginary glasses back into place with his middle finger and flashed Chet a sarcastic smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

Roy looked behind him. He and Johnny locked eyes for a second, then Johnny looked away, saying nothing and walking toward the refrigerator, getting out the orange juice.

"What's with you two?" Chet asked. "Are you sore at each other, or something?"

"No." They said in unison. Nobody at the table believed them.

Dixie McCall sat at the nurse's station, finishing up a report. She looked up to see Dr. Brackett approaching her. He looked very tired, and she happened to know that he had been helping a specialist perform open-heart surgery for the past four hours.

"Hey, Dix...d'you have time for some coffee?" He said, his fatigue apparent in his voice.

"Of course." Dixie said. The report could wait. Dr. Brackett needed a break, and so did she.

They walked down the corridor and into the coffee room. Dixie made Dr. Brackett sit down while she poured the coffee. He yawned as soon as he sat down, rubbing his temples.

"So, how's the patient, Kel?" Dixie asked cautiously as she handed Dr. Brackett his cup.

"He didn't...make it." Dr. Brackett said slowly. He sighed and took a drink of his coffee.

"I'm sorry, Kel...I...know he was a friend of yours..." Dixie started to say.

"We just couldn't-do anything for him...we tried...everything..." Dr. Brackett said as if he were angry at himself, his voice catching in his throat.

"Well, he was 86...He led a long life Kel," Dixie said reassuringly, putting a hand on Kelly's. "His heart was just old...and now...now, he won't feel the pain anymore-"

"That does nothing to numb the pain in _my_ heart, Dix." Dr. Brackett said, blinking back tears. "He was my father's best friend...and I'd gotten to know him quite well these...past couple of years...He was always there when...my father couldn't be." He shut his eyes.

Dixie didn't say anything more. She allowed her hand to travel up Dr. Brackett's arm to his shoulder, then she pulled him closer and hugged him. She was surprised when Kelly firmly hugged her back.

As Chet and Johnny washed the dishes from breakfast, Roy and Mike started cleaning the tables.

"Well, what's got you so sore, Johnny?" Chet asked.

"Chet, I don't want to talk about it right now, especially not with you."

"Well, maybe I can help..." Chet said, handing Johnny a dish. On his face was a look of utter false concern. Johnny grimaced as he dried the dish off.

"I seriously doubt it, Chet. My problems would probably confuse you so bad, you-" He was interrupted by the call alarm. Johnny put down the dish he was drying and ran into the garage.

"Squad 51, woman collapsed in park. 1280 Lawnhearst Road. 1-2-8-0 Lawnhearst Road. Cross street, Belvediere. Time out 10:20."

Roy dropped his rag and ran to the squad, opening the door, getting in, and starting it. Mike followed him out of the mess hall and took care of the garage door.

Johnny wrote down the address and conditions and picked up the transceiver. "Squad 51, 10-4. KMG, 365."

The squad pulled out of the garage with it's sirens roaring, leaving Mike to close the garage door and the engine crew to finish cleaning up.

"Marco?" Mike Stoker called out.

"Polo!" Chet responded, a funny smirk on his face.

"Shut up, Chet." Marco said. "What is it, Mike?"

"Would you help us finish up in here?" He said, handing him Roy's rag.

"Yeah." Marco said.

Johnny had his seatbelt off and his door opened before Roy had fully pulled up to the curb by the park. Johnny grabbed the drug box and the biophone while Roy grabbed the O2 and and the de-fib equipment-just in case. They ran over to the place where the older woman lay in the grass, and where a crowd of people had accumulated.

"Excuse me, could you stand back and give her some space?" Roy said, herding the people back while Johnny knelt by her and started to take her vitals.

"I'm the one who called," said a young blonde woman in a white sweater. "She was just walking along, when all of a sudden, she grabbed at her chest and just...fell over."

Johnny looked up at the young woman; for some reason, she reminded him of Sandy Duncan.

"Do you know her?"

Roy looked up at her as he set up the biophone, interested in the answer.

"Well, not very well...she lives in my apartment complex. Her name is Ida Melgrove and she's 60," the young woman said.

Roy looked down at the woman in the grass. She didn't look a day over 50...

"Do you know if she's had any history of heart problems?" Roy asked.

"Well, I-I don't know...Like I said, I don't know her very well."

Roy nodded and put the phone to his ear.

"Rampart, this is Squad 51."

At Rampart General Hospital, Dixie McCall looked up from her work and walked over to base station.

"Go ahead, 51," she said.

"Rampart, we have a female patient, age 60, who collapsed at a park; witnesses say they saw her grasp at her chest before she collapsed. Standby for vitals."

"10-4, 51." Dixie said just as Dr. Brackett walked up to Base Station. She briefed him on the details as they waited for the vitals to be relayed.

Johnny finished taking Ida's BP and checked her respirations. "Alright, pulse is rapid and irregular, BP is 180 over 110, respirations are quick and shallow. Recommend O2 and bicarb."

Roy repeated Johnny's words into the biophone.

"51, 10-4 on the O2; administer 2 amps bicarb and transport as soon as possible." Came Dr. Brackett's voice over the biophone.

"10-4, Rampart." said Roy.

Dixie absentmindedly ran her fingers through her hair as she switched off the recorder.

"Alright, We can...set up for her in...two." Dr. Brackett said. He spoke a little slowly.

Dixie thought the way he'd said it was odd, but she nodded and walked to the nurse's station, telling Nurse Clara what they needed in treatment two. She then picked up two patient charts and walked back over to Dr. Brackett.

"Kel, I'll need your signature on these for pediatrics-"

She didn't notice the way he was looking at her until she looked up. It seemed like he was studying her face...as if he was fascinated by it.

"Kel?" She said.

"Of course..." he said distantly, taking the two charts. He hesitated.

"...Dix?"

"Yes, Kel?"

"I...uh...I...really like it when you wear your hair like that..." He said softly, smiling a little and touching the tendrils that fell along the side of her face. She was wearing it down that day.

A small gasp escaped her lips when she realised what he had just said to her. He smiled and walked down the corridor to his office. She watched him go, feeling heat rush to her cheeks. She touched her hair where his hand had been only seconds ago.

Completely taken off guard, she sat down at the nurse's station, unable to wipe away the small smile that had crept onto her face.

Dr. Early walked past the treatment rooms on his way to his coffee break, just happening to glance at the nurse's station as he walked past. When he saw the look on Dixie's face, he stopped and smiled.

"You look happy."

"Well, I'm a...bit surprised, to be perfectly honest..." Dixie said.

"Why? What happened?"

Dixie hesitated, her smile never wavering. "...D'you have a second?"

"Of course." Dr. Early said gesturing in the direction of the coffee room. Dixie nodded and got up smiling as she walked.

"Wait'll you hear this..." she said.

"He _what_?" Dr. Early said after hearing about what Dr. Brackett had said to Dixie.

"He made a move on me!" Dixie said, feeling her cheeks grow hot again. She smiled and looked down. "Well, not that I'm complaining or anything...I just..." She shook her head. "Oh, Joe...this is ridiculous!" She laughed. "I'm a grown woman! I'm too old to feel like a schoolgirl!"

Dr. Early smiled and put his hands on Dixie's shoulders, shaking his head.

"You're never too old for that, Dix."

She smiled and looked off to the left. "Well...I guess you're right...I just...can't believe..._Kel_ of all people! He's always so...oh, you know..._serious_...and..."

Dr. Early shrugged a shoulder and laughed. "Well...St. Valentines's Day _is_ just around the corner," he mused.

"Oh, that's right..." Dixie said.

"Maybe he was smarter than me and finally realised that he wasn't getting any younger."

Dixie laughed. "Oh, Joe...You don't look a day over 25. You could still get lucky!" she said playfully.

Dr. Early laughed and shook his head. "That's not what my mirror tells me."

"Yeah, me either!" Dixie joined in Dr. Early's laughter.

Dr. Early took a sip of his coffee.

"Well, I'm happy for you."

"Oh, Joe, it's not like we're going steady or anything..."

"Well, no, but look at you! I haven't seen you this happy since...You know, come to think of it, I don't think I've _ever_ seen you this happy!"

Dixie couldn't keep the smile off her face.

"You're right...I don't remember the last time I felt this good." she said.

"Enjoy it," Dr. Early said, raising his coffee cup. "You deserve it."

Dixie and Dr. Early were laughing as they left the coffee room. Dixie resumed her post at the nurse's station while Dr. Early walked back down the corridor. Just as he was about to pass the ambulance entrance, Roy DeSoto and the ambulance orderlies rushed in with Ida Melgrove. Dr. Early turned and followed them down the corridor.

When Dixie noticed they were there, she said, "We've set up for her in two."

They all rushed into the treatment room and everyone sprang into action, the orderlies hooking Ida up to the room's oxygen and EKG monitor while Roy packed up the station's equipment.

Dr. Early started to examine her, pressing a stethoscope to her chest just as Dr. Brackett walked through the door.

"What have we got, Joe?" he asked, coming up next to his colleague.

"Sounds like a minor heart attack, Kel."

Dr. Brackett looked at Roy. "Looks like you caught it just in time."

Roy nodded and smiled, despite being lost in his own thoughts. He watched the two doctors get down to business as he left the room.

Roy met up with Johnny at the supply counter, where Johnny had already started to gather what they needed.

"Hey, Johnny?" Roy said to the end of Johnny that was currently sticking out of a cabinet.

Johnny didn't answer right away. He emerged from the cabinet a moment later with an IV bag of Ringers Lactate in his mouth. When he did acknowledge Roy's inquiry, it was without words; he simply looked at him.

Given the look on Johnny's face, Roy looked down at the floor and decided not to push it.

"Never mind." he said.

Johnny looked at Roy for a second before continuing the task at hand.

Dixie furrowed her brows as she walked over to the supply counter, having just witnessed the odd exchange between the two paramedics.

Dixie noticed Roy's expression as he and Johnny double-checked their supplies. He looked completely lost in thought...in fact, he'd stopped checking the supply list altogether.

"Roy, are you alright?" She asked, resting a hand on his shoulder.

Roy jumped as Dixie's hand brought him back to reality.

"Huh?" He said.

Dixie gave him a concerned look.

"Come on, I'll buy you a cup of coffee." She said, leading him down the corridor toward the coffee room, leaving Johnny at the supply counter with Nurse Clara.

"I'm fine, really..." he said unconvincingly.

Dixie gave Roy a look. "That's not what your eyes tell me, Roy...What's going on with you and Johnny? Are you two sore at each other?"

Roy sighed and looked down at the floor. Not _that_ question again...

"No," he said as they walked into the coffee room. Dixie gave him an "I'm not buying it" look.

Roy sighed. "I'm not sore at him, but I think he's sore at me...and he's got every right to be."

Dixie gave him a confused look. "...Do you want to talk about it?" Dixie asked, pouring two cups of coffee and sitting at the round table across from Roy, who put his elbows on the table and rested his head on his fists. Dixie slid his cup closer to him. He looked at it, but hesitated before be picked it up and took a sip.

"Not particularly," Roy said. "You'd probably just think less of me afterwards anyway."

Dixie furrowed her brows. "I doubt that," she said. "It looks like it's bothering you a lot, Roy. I think it would be best to just talk about it and get it off your chest."

"Are you a nurse or a shrink?" Roy asked, obviously trying to avoid the topic.

"Well, when you've got my job, you've got to be a little of both." Dixie said, tilting her head at him and smiling a little. When he said nothing, she said, "Roy, you can tell me. I assure you, anything you say will never leave this room."

Roy shut his eyes and let out a breath. "Alright," he said. "It's a little, uh...well...see, I...I was trying to teach Johnny a lesson, and...and I, uh..." Roy rubbed his forehead and sighed.

Dixie furrowed her brows. "Go on..." She said.

Roy hid his face in his hands. "See, I...well, I...I...kissed him..." he said reluctantly.

Dixie's eyebrows rose. "You..._kissed_ him?" She said quietly. "...why?"

Roy took his hands away from his face and looked up at her. "Because...Well, I was trying to scare him a little...He started teasing me about my terrible luck with women, and he...I...he said I should...that maybe I should try men instead."

Dixie nodded slowly, processing the information she'd just heard.

Roy became a bit nervous; Dixie's expression was hard to read.

"I mean...I was just supposed to scare him so that he wouldn't say stuff like that any more...I didn't expect to..._like_ it..."

Dixie encouraged him to continue with her expression.

"It just...felt so good to kiss someone again..." He said, looking down into his coffee cup. "I feel like...such a terrible person..."

Dixie shook her head. "Roy, you're not a bad person. It may just be that you're lonely and you need someone to-"

"But he's all I can think of..." Roy interrupted her, burying his face in his hands again. "I've tried to think of women, but he just keeps coming right back into my thoughts...and some of those thoughts haven't exactly been...pure..."

"That does not make you a bad person, Roy." Dixie said. "I happen to know that you care very deeply about Johnny-"

Roy looked up at her. "Yeah, but-"  
Dixie put up a hand to quiet him. "Roy, it's alright!"

Roy opened his mouth to say something, but hesitated. "No it's not!" He said after a while.

"Let me finish, will you?" Dixie said, making Roy go quiet for a moment. "What we call 'attraction' is simply a chemical reaction in the brain. It's not good or bad, it just is. If Johnny causes that reaction in you, then that's just the way it is."

"Yeah, but I have never, _ever_ thought of men that way before!" He said, closing his eyes. He thought for a moment, then added, "Come to think of it, I've only reacted that way toward Johnny."

"Maybe there's something about him," Dixie said.

Roy rolled his eyes. "Well maybe, but what am I supposed to do about it? What if it interferes with my job?"

Dixie shrugged. "I think that the best thing to do would be to talk to him about it-"

"Oh yeah, and shove our friendship deeper into a hole than it already is..."

"Well, do you have a better idea? Pretending it didn't happen isn't going to help, Roy. I think you should talk to him so that you two can reach an understanding."

Roy sighed. "How do I know he'd listen to me?"

"Would you rather _I_ talked to him?"

Roy thought about that for a second. "Yeah...I would-"

Suddenly, the HT in his hand beeped a few call tones.

"Squad 51, what is your status?"

"Squad 51, available." Roy said into the HT.

"Squad 51, respond to unknown-type rescue, 1121 West Harper. 1121 West Harper. Cross-street Applewood. Time out 1:10."

"Oh, no...not _her_ again..." Roy said, getting up.

Dixie put her hand on Roy's arm before he left the room. "I'll talk to Johnny as soon as possible."

Roy looked down at her hand. Even though it was a small consolation, he felt surprisingly better. He was glad that she seemed to be completely understanding of his problem.

"Thanks, Dix." he said before walking down the corridor to tell his partner that they'd gotten a call.

The Squad pulled up to the front of the big house by the park that they knew all too well and the two paramedics got out and jogged up to the front door. The crazy cat lady was as frantic as ever.

"Help me! I can't get him down!"

Roy and Johnny exchanged glances.

"You can't get _who_ down from...where?" Johnny said as they followed the old woman into her house.

She didn't give any indication that she heard them as she led them up the stairs and into a bedroom.

They heard the yowling before they saw the cat, but when they got into the upstairs bedroom, they had to stare for a while at the spectacle before them. One of the cats had somehow gotten its paw stuck to the blade of a ceiling fan.

Johnny suppressed a laugh, but got a severe glare from the cat lady for his efforts.

"This is NOT a laughing matter, young man!" She said, pulling his ear down to her level (and she was about 3 heads shorter than him). "Now, you get him _down_ from there this instant!" She said.

"Agh! Alright, alright!" Johnny said, making the old lady finally let go of his ear.

He suddenly failed to see the humour in the situation as he contemplated how to get the cat down from the fan without getting hurt...

It didn't look promising.

He took a deep breath and said, "How do you turn off the fan?"

"Speak _up_, sonny! I can't hear a word you're saying!"

Johnny had to bite his tongue to stop himself from yelling at the old woman. He finally got enough of his control back to slightly raise his voice and say, "How do you turn off the fan?"

"I don't know!" came the shrill reply. "What a ridiculous thing to ask..." she muttered.

Johnny rubbed his forehead, then looked at Roy for some help. Roy shrugged and began to look around the room for a switch or something that may turn off the fan, but the only thing he could see that would possibly work the fan was the pull-cord that was currently in the centre of the fan...in the eye of a snarling, yowling storm.

"I think that's it..." He said, pointing to the pull-cord. Johnny gave him an incredulous look.

"You're crazy!" He said. "I'm not going in there!"

"Wait here. I'll go get your coat and helmet." Roy said, jogging out of the room.

Johnny nodded, then hesitated and shook his head.

"Wait, when did _I_ volunteer to get him down!" He called after Roy, but it was useless. Roy was already out of earshot. Johnny grimaced and silently cursed his luck.

When Roy came back with Johnny's gear, Johnny quickly suited up and inched towards the ceiling fan.

The cat's yowling seemed to oscillate as the cat went in circles with the motion of the ceiling fan. Johnny got on his knees and inched underneath the cat as it went along its orbit. He slowly straightened up when he was sure he was directly under the pull-cord. Glancing up, he saw it and grabbed for it, pulling it once and falling back to his knees. For some reason, the cat's yowls of protest became louder...

"Pull it again, Johnny! You made the fan go faster!" Roy called to him.

Johnny cursed under his breath and stood up to pull the cord again. When he did, the fan finally started to slow its momentum, but with the extra weight on one of the blades, the fan had been pulling in a funny direction. Johnny stayed on his knees, inching his way out from underneath the slowing orbit of the cat-blissfully unaware of the fact that the nail holding the fan's chain to the ceiling was slowly...slipping...out...

Suddenly, _CRASH_. The ceiling fan fell right onto the front side of Johnny's helmet. He let out a yell; more out of surprise than pain as the helmet absorbed most of the shock.

The cat somehow freed itself from the fan and ran down the hallway. The crazy cat lady toddled after her "little angel" as always, without so much as a thank you for the heroic efforts of a very irritated Johnny Gage.

Johnny resisted the urge to kick the ceiling fan as he got up and brushed himself off. He muttered something distasteful as he walked out of the door, Roy at his heels.

Johnny grimaced and rubbed his neck as they got back into the Squad and headed back to the station.

"Damn...I hope we never get another call from her ever again." He said.

Roy was unusually quiet as he drove, looking ahead as if he was lost in thought. Johnny looked expectantly at his friend, tilting his head slightly.

"Roy?"

"Uh, Yeah...I hope she leaves us alone, too..." Roy said distantly.

Johnny furrowed his brows.

When they pulled back into the garage at the station and got out of the squad, Roy started walking back to the dorm. Johnny furrowed his brows and followed him.

"Roy, why aren't you talking to me? Are you sore at me or something?"

"I thought you were sore at me."

"For what?"

Roy shook his head and walked into the dorm, picking up the book that was sitting on his bed and plopping down to read it. Before he started, he gave Johnny a look over the top of his book.

Johnny finally got the picture.

"Oh...are you still thinking about that?" he said, looking away. "I thought we agreed that it never happened."

Roy shook his head. "I can't pretend that it didn't, Johnny," he said without looking up from his book.

"Well, I was already forgetting about it, so why can't you?" Johnny said, a little reproachfully.

Roy opened his mouth to say something, then shut his mouth. He put his book down and said nothing for a moment.

"Because I just can't, alright?" He said in a low voice. "It's that simple."

"Well, why the hell not?" Johnny said, sitting on his own bed.

Roy didn't have time to answer before the call alarm blared out a few tones. He was grateful for them as he ran to the garage door to open it.

"Squad 51, Woman in labour trapped in car, 1991 Amhearst avenue. 1-9-9-1 Amhearst Aveneue. Cross street, Hopkins. Time out 0:21."

Roy got into the Squad as Johnny wrote down the address and conditions.

"Squad 51, KMG 365," he said into the transceiver, then set it down and ran to the passenger's seat of the Squad, handing the paper to Roy.

"That's the parking lot of the Shell Gas Station." Roy said, setting the paper on the seat between them.

"Man, babies pick weird times and places to be born." Johnny said.

* * *

_AN_:  
LOL I love the Crazy Cat Lady scenes...

DISCLAIMER  
This is just for fun...I'm not trying to mess with the story that has been established, I just wanted to see what might happen if I changed the conditions a bit.  
(So, please, understand...I'm only doing this for fun and I'm not trying to start anything, so...give it a chance before you shoot me...please?)  
This is just a wild, hare-brained idea I got, so if you like it, thanks in advance.

ALSO: I'd be interested to know what everyone thinks of the Crazy Cat Lady...I have a series of her crazy rescues that I could post as a separate thing...so if anyone wants to see that, just let me know.


	3. CH 3 Boot Knows Best

ALTERNATE REALITY:  
CONDITIONS-  
ROY IS NOT MARRIED  
ROY HAS NEVER MET JOANNE  
KELLY BRACKETT AND DIXIE McCALL ARE NOT TOGETHER (YET)  
DIFFERENT (MADE-UP) STREET NAMES

CHAPTER 3- BOOT KNOWS BEST

-%-

As the squad pulled up to the Shell Gas Station, Roy was careful to choose a spot in the parking lot that was close to the scene and didn't block any incoming cars...which wasn't an easy feat.

As he and Johnny got out of the squad and grabbed the biophone, they could hear the commotion at the scene.

"Alright, just calm down and tell me what happened." Deputy Sheriff Vince was saying.

"_She_ locked the keys in the car!" a mustached man (probably the pregnant woman's husband) yelled, pointing a finger at the woman standing next to him.

"I didn't _mean_ to, Don! I just...there was just so much excitement that I forgot the keys when I went inside to call someone!" She yelled back at him; Roy figured she was the pregnant woman's sister or something.

"Excuses, excuses, Martha! Sarah is far worse off than she was when we ran out of gas, thanks to you."

"Why is everything my fault? You're the one who forgot to fill up the tank on Sunday! If you had, this woulda never happened-"

"Oh come on, Martha-"

Roy and Johnny ran up to the car, saving Vince from the silly domestic dispute.

"How far along, is your wife, sir?" Roy asked the pregnant woman's husband as Johnny went to work trying to pick the lock on the car.

"Uh...she was due on Saturday, but nothing happened, so they sent us home...then, her water broke and she was having some bad pains, so we had to rush her out of the house-"

"And halfway to the hospital, we run out of gas, thanks to this crackpot. I _told_ Sarah she made a mistake marrying you..."

"Ah, hush your mouth, Martha-"

Roy stopped listening to the insane bickering and peered into the station wagon. The woman inside was very pregnant, diaphoretic, and flushed, but she was conscious, and there didn't appear to be any complications.

"Sarah, can you hear me?" Roy called through the window.

"Yeah..." Came Sarah's laboured response.

Roy began to set up the biophone. "About how far apart are your contractions, Sarah?"

"Oh...about-agh...maybe a minute..or less...I don't know." She said.

"Alright. Now, I just want you to relax, we'll get you out of there in no time."

"Okay...please hurry...I know the baby's coming..."

Roy picked up the Biophone. "Rampart, this is Squad 51, how do you read me?"

At rampart, Dr. Brackett looked up and walked over to base station. "We read you loud and clear, 51."

"Rampart, we have a female patient, approximately 28 years of age. She's in labour, but she's locked in a car; I'm unable to monitor vitals. She's diaphoretic and flushed, and says her contractions are around one minute apart, maybe less."

"51, is this her first child?" Dr. Brackett asked.

"Sarah," Roy called through the window. "Have you had a baby before?"

"No," Sarah said. "I'm-ohh...I'm pretty...new at this..."

Roy picked up the biophone. "This is her first child, Rampart."

"Alright, transport as soon as possible. You may have to deliver the child on-site."

"10-4, Rampart," Roy said, putting down the biophone. "Johnny, how's it coming with that lock?"

"Slow...but I think I almost got it..." Johnny grunted. Suddenly, the lock clicked. Johnny smiled as he opened the door and unlocked the rest of the doors. Roy opened the door to the back seat and knelt next to Sarah, taking her pulse. Johnny opened the door on the other side and put a BP cuff on her arm. They heard the wail of sirens heralding the presence of the ambulance.

"Oh...Oh god...the baby's coming..." Sarah cried, tightly shutting her eyes as if it would somehow make the pain go away.

"Sarah!" Her husband Don was hovering over Roy, trying to get a better look at his wife...and effectively blocking Roy from getting her out of the car.

"Sir, could you please stand back? We're going to take her out of the car now." Roy said, gently pushing the man aside. The ambulance attendants brought the gurney to Roy and helped him get Sarah situated.

"Oh god...the baby...Oh god..." Sarah was saying.

"Sarah!" Don worriedly called after his wife.

"We're going to have to deliver the baby on the way there," Roy said to Johnny as they rushed her over to the ambulance and loaded her on.

"Alright, I'll be right behind you in the squad." Johnny said, closing the doors behind Roy and running over to the squad.

When they arrived at Rampart, Sarah was already holding her beautiful baby boy. Roy and the orderlies took her into the ER anyway, just so that the doctors could check on her and the baby to make sure there were no complications.

"We've set up for her in four." Dr. Early said, smiling at the newborn baby.

Roy hung back as they began to wheel Sarah away, but she stopped them.

"Wait!" She said, then looked back at Roy. "Thank you." She said, smiling at him.

Roy smiled back and watched them take her into treatment four just as Johnny was walking in.

"Well, what was it?" Johnny asked.

"Hm?" said Roy.

"Was it a boy or a girl?" Johnny asked.

"A boy." Roy said. "She called him Don Joseph after her husband."

The two stood there for a while, each lost in his own thoughts.

Dixie looked up to see them standing there and quickly finished up her paperwork. She got up and walked over to Johnny.

"Hey, Johnny, you got a sec?" She said. It was more a statement than a question.

Johnny furrowed his brows. "Yeah...Am I in trouble?" He asked.

"Not yet." Dixie teased, giving him a little smile before they walked off toward the coffee room, leaving Roy at base station.

When they walked into the coffee room, Dixie got out two mugs and started to pour.

"Sit down, Johnny." She said.

"So what am I in trouble for, Dix?" Johnny asked, smiling his crooked smile.

"Roy told me what happened yesterday." Dixie said calmly. Johnny's smile slowly faded.

"Oh..." Johnny said darkly, sitting down and looking away.

Dixie sat down across from him and pushed a cup of coffee his way. Both were silent for a while; the sound of the clock seeming to get louder as the seconds passed. Johnny could feel Dixie's eyes on him as he finally took his coffee cup, staring into it to avoid her gaze.

"What exactly did he tell you?" Johnny said slowly, running his finger continuously along the rim of the cup, not even stopping when the searing hot steam licked at his hand.

"That you were teasing him. And that he kissed you to try to make you stop," Dixie said, her voice perfectly calm. A muscle in Johnny's jaw tensed.

"Yeah. He did." Johnny said. "We also agreed that it never happened..."

"Well, obviously Roy can't keep up his end of the agreement. It affected him very deeply, and I think you should talk to him about it-"

"Well, what if I don't _want_ to talk to him about it? In my opinion, it never even happened!" Johnny said, folding his arms.

"Johnny, you can't just pretend it never happened. That won't solve anything."

"Who says anything needs to be solved? We just gotta forget about it and move on with our lives."

"Johnny, life's not that simple. It affected Roy enough that he asked me to talk to you about it; that should clue you in to the fact that he won't just _forget_ about it...He can't."

Johnny looked down, scowling at a spot on the floor. "Well, what am I supposed to do about it? It's not my fault that he-"

"Aren't _you_ the one who told him he ought to try men in the first place?" Dixie asked, giving Johnny a hard look.

"Well, I didn't expect him to go and _kiss_ me! I was just teasing him!" Johnny said defensively. "That's all it was..."

"Johnny, I think you should at least _try_ to talk to him about this." Dixie said. "It won't go away unless you address it."

Johnny looked away from her again. "...I don't even know what to say to him."

"You could start by telling him how you feel about it." said Dixie. "If you want him to lay off, I'm sure he'll do it, you just have to communicate that to him."

The corner of Johnny's mouth twitched. He looked out the window to avoid Dixie's eyes and slowly brought the coffee cup to his lips. Dixie knew him well enough to tell that he was flushed.

"How _do_ you feel about it, Johnny?" Dixie asked after a while. "It's clear that this whole thing makes you terribly uncomfortable. What are you so afraid of?"

Johnny just blinked and continued to stare out the window. Dixie gave him a long hard look before speaking again.

"Are you afraid that you may find out you like him, too?"

Johnny shut his eyes. Without saying a word, he got up and left the room.

"That's what I thought..." Dixie said to the empty room.

_No._ Johnny shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, trying to wash away all his doubts as he walked down the corridor to base station, where Roy was talking to Dr. Early.

"Yeah, she wouldn't leave me alone..." Roy was saying. "I'm glad she's attached to Chet now, and not me. Maybe he'll be able to handle her better."

Dr. Early nodded. "Well, women aren't for everyone, but-"

"Doctor Early, treatment room two. Early, treatment room two." The intercom interrupted him.

"Ah...I gotta go. See you around." Dr. Early said as he walked away, completely unaware of the confused look that Roy was currently giving him.

_Women aren't for everyone, huh?_ Roy thought, his eyebrows furrowed.

Suddenly the HT beeped, shaking him from his thoughts.

"Squad 51, what is your status?"

"51 Available." Roy said into the HT.

"Squad 51, respond to attempted suicide, possible heart patient. 1610 Fischer avenue, 1-6-1-0 Fischer avenue, cross street Silver. Time out, 5:25."

"Squad 51, 10-4." Roy said as he and Johnny headed out to the squad.

Dr. Early walked into treatment room two just as they were preparing to move the patient upstairs. She was in a wheelchair, and the second she saw Dr. Early, she smiled a wide and beautiful smile.

"Oh, Dr. Early. This is Ida, she's been asking for you for a while." said Nurse Clara. "Would you be willing to take her upstairs for me? I need to go assist Dr. Brackett now."

"Of course, Clara." Said Dr. Early, taking the wheelchair and walking her to the elevator. Nurse Clara smiled and watched them before she went into treatment four.

"Do you remember me, Joe?" Ida asked.

"You came in this morning with a case of sinus tachycardia..." said Dr. Early, wondering how she knew his first name.

She smiled and shook her head. "I suppose high school _was_ a very long time ago..." Ida said, glancing back at him.

"You do look strangely familiar..." He said as the elevator doors closed in front of them.

Suddenly, Dr. Early's eyebrows rose. Could she really be..._Melgrove? ...Class of '32? But that was so long ago..._

"Class of...'32...right?" Dr. Early said slowly.

"I can't believe you remember..." She said, smiling to herself. "You were a class ahead of me."

"I can't believe you remember _me_..." Dr. Early mused. "That was nearly...oh my god...fifty years ago..."

"How could I forget such a handsome face?" Ida said, "Time has been very kind to you, Joe."

Dr. Early cleared his throat and wheeled her out of the elevator, visibly flustered. Ida glanced back at him and smiled.

"Your wife must be very lucky." She said, setting back into the chair.

"Oh, I'm...n-not married." Dr. Early said as he wheeled her into room 350 where a nurse and an orderly were waiting to help him put her on the bed.

"Oh?" Ida said, looking into his flushed face. He didn't answer her, but he smiled at her slightly, then quickly looked away when their eyes met, making her smile too.

The nurse and the orderly helped Dr. Early get her onto the hospital bed, then got her situated. Dr. Early smiled at her before he headed for the door.

"Joe..." She called after him, making him turn and look at her. "Will I see you again, later?"

Dr. Early smiled a little. "Of course. I-I'll be back to check up on you...later." He said, almost crashing into the door as he walked out of the room, making Ida laugh. Dr. Early got out of the room and leaned on the wall outside, clearly embarrassed and flustered. Dixie walked out of the elevator and saw him by the room.

"Hey, Joe, you okay?" She said, coming up to him with a half-smile on her face.

"I'm being hit on by the patients..." Dr. Early said, laughing a little and looking at the floor.

Dixie laughed. "What did I tell you, Joe? You'll get lucky, I just know it." She said, patting him on the arm before walking down the corridor.

"...I sure hope so." Dr. Early said to himself before he walked back over to the elevator.

The squad's sirens wailed as it barrelled west down Fischer avenue towards Silver. Inside, Johnny was brooding with his elbow on the window and his eyes on the road.

"You're unusually quiet," Roy said, glancing over at his partner.

Johnny didn't show any inclination that he'd even heard Roy.

"Did Dixie give you a hard time or something?" Roy tried again.

This time, Johnny sent him a cold, icy glare from under the rim of his helmet. Roy quickly looked away, a little taken aback.

The two men were silent for the rest of the ride, and as Roy pulled up to the tallest building in LA county, they got out of the squad and grabbed their equipment in silence. They wouldn't look at each other as they walked over to the policemen at the foot of the building.

"What's the situation?" Roy asked Deputy Sheriff Vince.

"We have a man on the roof...he was going to jump, but the second he looked down to the street below, he started breathing heavily, took a few steps back, grabbed his chest and keeled over onto his back." said Vince, fidgeting with his binoculars. "We can take you up in the elevator."

Roy and Johnny nodded and followed Vince as he led them into the building and over to the express elevator.

"How long has he been up there?" Roy asked Vince when they got into the elevator.

"I think it only happened..maybe five minutes ago." Vince said. "We called you right away."

When they got to the 32nd floor, they walked out of the elevator and to the left.

"We've got to take the stairs from here." Vince said, leading them to a door on the far left corner of the floor. They walked up a flight of stairs and opened the door to the roof, and could immediately see a man in a nice white suit lying by the edge. Roy and officer Vince pulled him away from the edge as Johnny set up the biophone and the EKG monitor. Roy ripped the man's blue shirt open and started taking his vitals, putting on a BP cuff and checking his pulse, pupils and respirations.

"Johnny, BP is 75/40, respirations are weak and shallow, I can't get a definite pulse; he's in V-fib..." Roy said, immediately beginning CPR, then motioning for Vince to take over for him so he could set up the O2.

Johnny gave Roy a curt nod acknowledging the patient's vitals and hurried to set up the de-fib equipment.

Roy picked up the biophone. "Rampart, this is Squad 51."

At Rampart, Dr. Brackett looked up from his paperwork and walked over to base station. "Go ahead, 51."

"Rampart, we have a male patient approximately 45 to 50 years of age. Patient is in V-fib, we have him on O2 and we have begun CPR."

Johnny quickly put diodes on the patent's chest and attached the terminals to them, then switched on the EKG monitor.

"Sending an EKG strip, lead two." said Roy.

Dr. Brackett started to read the EKG strip as it came through on his end. "10-4, 51. Defibrillate and administer 1 mg epinephrine IV."

"10-4 Rampart." said Roy, setting down the biophone and rushing over to gel the de-fib paddles. Johnny rubbed the paddles together while Roy pushed the button on the defibrillator and counted watt-seconds.

"Two...three...four hundred!"

"Clear." said Johnny.

"Clear!" came the response as Vince stopped compressions.

The patient shook violently, but the EKG showed no conversion. Roy quickly administered epinephrine IV and Vince continued compressions while the defibrillator recharged.

"One...two...three...Four hundred."

"Clear!" said Johnny.

"Clear!" Vince responded.

The patient shook violently again, and this time, his EKG showed an irregular, but stable heartbeat.

"He's back." Johnny said just as the ambulance attendants made it up the stairs with a gurney.

Everyone set to work getting the man onto the gurney. Roy put the O2 cannister between the patient's legs and Johnny set the EKG monitor on top of the O2.

As Johnny and Roy reached for the same securing belt, their hands suddenly grazed together, causing Roy to gasp audibly. He and Johnny quickly pulled their hands away from the other's. It went completely unnoticed by everyone else, but Johnny took a moment to glare angrily at Roy while he secured the O2 under the belt.

"Watch it, _DeSoto_." Johnny said, his voice almost poisonous.

An icy sensation permeated Roy's body. For a moment, he was unable to think or move as he stared at Johnny, completely taken aback.

Finally, he blinked and shook his head, trying to shake off the terrible feeling that had begun to rip at his insides. He had a job to do. Slowly finding the strength to move, he grabbed the IVs and the Biophone, getting up and following the ambulance attendants down the stairs to the 32nd floor.

"I'll go in with him." Johnny told one of the orderlies as they loaded the patent onto the ambulance. Roy handed the other orderly the IVs and then handed the biophone to Johnny before the doors closed. He tapped the doors twice with his hand to send them on their way.

As they sped off, Roy stood there for a second, thinking about what had just happened.

It had just been a little touch, but...it sent a jolt through him like he'd never felt before...it just took him by surprise...it wasn't _his_ fault...right?

Roy sighed and looked at the pavement as he walked towards the squad. This had gone too far. It was getting in the way of his job...but most of all, it was getting in the way of his friendship.

For the first time in years, he actually felt like crying.

As Johnny and the orderlies ran the white-suited man down the corridor of Rampart's ER, Dr. Brackett and Dr. Morton ran up to them.

"Treatment two," said Dr. Morton.

They all rushed into the room and sprang into action.

A few moments later, Roy DeSoto slowly walked through the ambulance entrance. Dixie looked up and noticed him standing there in the middle of the corridor, as if he was disoriented. She furrowed her brows and walked up to him.

"Roy...are you alright?" She asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

A single tear rolled down his cheek.

"What am I doing here, Dix?" He asked her, his eyes seeming to search hers for any shred of meaning he could find.

Dixie gave him a concerned look. "Come on," She said.

She led him down the corridor to the coffee room and sat him down on the couch.

"Talk to me." She said.

"I can't...do this any more." Roy said slowly, looking down at the floor.

Dixie put her hands on Roy's shoulders. "What are you talking about, Roy?"

"I should leave the service..."

"What?" Dixie tightened her grip on Roy's shoulders. "Roy, don't be ridiculous! We need you here-"

"No...My feelings for Johnny are getting in the way of everything..."

"Well, what happened?" Dixie asked.

Roy hesitated. "...Our hands...accidentally touched during the rescue." he said, looking down at his hands. "It sent a jolt right up my spine...I...I couldn't help my reaction...it just...made me gasp...Then he glared at me and said, 'Watch it, _DeSoto_'..." Roy repeated, feeling a taste of that terrible cold feeling he had felt earlier. "I should transfer out, or just leave altogether..." He trailed off.

Dixie shook Roy by the shoulders to bring him back to reality. "Roy, I think you're just running away from the situation, and that's not going to make one bit of a difference!"

Roy blinked at her as if he was seeing her face for the first time; surprised by her sudden change of tone.

"But...If I go...he won't have to deal with me any more...and I'll be able to give him what he wants, which is for me to forget and move on."

"Is that what you really want? To up and leave all of your friends just because Johnny can't handle the truth?"

Roy hesitated. "No, but..."

"Well, then Johnny needs to get over himself. In my opinion, Roy, you're an asset to our team, and without you, we'd be missing an important piece."

Roy fell silent.

Dixie hesitated, watching Roy's face. "Don't you still want Johnny's friendship?"

Roy looked out the window. "I doubt he even wants to be in the same city with me anymore..."

"Then give him some space, but don't let his actions dictate what you're going to do with your life. If you're gonna move on, move on right here where he can see it. If you leave, your last memories of each other will be negative, but if you stay and show him that you're moving on, he'll recognise that. It's not going to be easy and it's not going to happen overnight, but he might just be your friend again if you can give him some space."

Roy was quiet for a moment. She had a point..."Alright, you're right, I don't _want_ to leave...but...what if something like this happens again? How am I supposed to explain an accident to deaf ears?"

"You don't waste your breath. You say what you need to say, and you move on. If he's got a problem with you, then it's his problem, not yours."

Roy looked down at the floor, saying nothing for a long time.

"I know it hurts, Roy, but people change, and change isn't always easy. But even when things seem hopeless, the best thing to do is to move on with your life and just deal with things as they come." She paused. "I'll always be here for you if you need to talk."

Roy nodded and was about to say something when the HT beeped. "51, what is your status?"

"51, available." Roy said.

"Squad 51, possible heart case, at Victoria golf course, 340 East 192nd Street, 3-4-0 East 192nd Street. Cross street, Avalon. Time out 8:21."

"51, 10-4." Roy said, slowly getting off the couch. He took a deep breath and prepared himself for his job, then finally said what we had planned to say before the HT interrupted him.

"Thank you, Dix."

She smiled and nodded at him as he walked from the coffee room.

The Squad sped out of Rampart's car park and onto the street, lights and sirens on.

When they arrived at the golf course, they ran through the main building and onto the course, expecting to find an ailing golfer...but there didn't seem to be anyone out on the course that day.

Suddenly, a very short, bespectacled, moustached man with binoculars and an obnoxious, yellow straw hat ran towards the two paramedics.

"They're almost here...oh dear, oh dear...Thank goodness you came so fastly-er, quickly...They've almost landed..." He was saying,

"Landed?" Despite themselves, Roy and Johnny exchanged glances, then looked back at the man.

"I'm afraid I don't understand..." Roy said.

"It's Paul...You see, he wanted to try skydiving...I asked him if that was wise, considering his part-er, heart problems, but he insisted...wanted to try it before he died...Oh dear...then his chest began to hurt, and...I told them to hand-er, land here...and I rushed over as soon as I'd panded the lane-er, I-I mean _landed the plane_...oh dear, oh dear, oh dear..." He looked up through his binoculars.

"Yes, there they are! I told you they'd see-er, be here soon!" He pointed to two colourful parachutes descending towards the golf course.

Roy and Johnny looked up at the two parachutes. It _did_ sound like a heart case...They both decided it would be a good idea to set up their equipment before the people landed, but keep it mobile so that they could take it to to the landing site.

Roy ran back to the squad and grabbed a stokes, they set up the equipment in there, and followed the frantic man in the straw hat to where he thought the parachuters were going to land.

It turned out he was only off by a half a foot; the parachuters landed right near where he'd said they would, and the older man that had just landed promptly collapsed. The woman who had landed with him ran over to him.

Roy and Johnny ran over to them and set the stokes down next to the old man. Johnny could see that the old man was having trouble breathing and immediately put the O2 mask over his face.

"Is there anything I can do?" The woman parachuter asked.

"Yeah," said Johnny, fumbling with the old man's parachute. "Could you get this thing put away?"

"Of course." The woman said, nodding and taking care of the old man's parachute even before taking care of her own. The man in the straw hat went to help her.

Johnny picked up the biophone. "Rampart, this is Squad 51."

At Rampart, Dr Early walked over to base station.

"Go ahead, 51." He said.

"Rampart, we have a male victim, approximately 80 years of age, who had been complaining of chest pains during skydiving. He has landed...He is now unconscious, cyanotic and short of breath. He has a history of heart problems. Vitals are: pulse- 110, BP- 100 over 30, respirations shallow and laboured. We've got him on oxygen. Request an IV of normal saline."

"Squad 51, affirmative on that IV, defibrillate if necessary and transport as soon as possible."

"10-4, Rampart." said Johnny, immediately starting the IV.

"Did you call an ambulance?" Roy asked the man with the straw hat.

"Y-yes, I did indeed...oh dear...poor Paul..." he said.

When the ambulance arrived, Johnny loaded the old man into the back and rode in with him. Roy drove the squad back to Rampart behind the ambulance, lost in his own thoughts. When they arrived at Rampart, they took the old man through the emergency doors and met Dr. Brackett in the corridor.

"We've set up for him in four," said Dr. Brackett, opening the door for Johnny and the orderlies as they wheeled him in. Dr. Brackett was followed in by Dr. Morton and Nurse Clara, and a few moments later, Johnny and Roy walked out of the room. They were unusually quiet as they walked, and Roy fell behind Johnny as they neared the emergency doors.

Dixie watched as Roy silently followed Johnny out to the squad. Though the situation had calmed down quite a bit, neither of them would look at the other.

"Today just seems to be our day for heart patients, doesn't it?" Dr. Early said thoughtfully as he walked toward the treatment room. "We had those two this morning, one half an hour ago, and now him..."

"Yeah," Dixie said. "I guess it's a day for heart attacks and...just plain broken hearts." She walked back to base station with a sombre look on her face.

Dr. Early furrowed his brows, wondering what she had meant by that.

After dinner, Roy was tired. He didn't eat much and he'd been silent the whole time, prompting Chet to threaten him with Mike's title of "Silent Stoker"*.

"Naw...we'll have to change it for you, won't we...How's 'Dull DeSoto'?" Chet had said.

"Lay off him, will you, Chet?" Mike had responded. He wasn't being so silent that night.

Roy was still silent after that, though he was grateful for Mike's standing up for him.

Johnny, on the other hand, wouldn't shut up about the parachuters. He had eaten seconds and had even gone back for thirds, and when the rest of the crew stayed up to watch Adam-12, he stayed up with them.

Roy gave them all his regards and took a quick shower before going to bed. It had been a taxing day, and he didn't really feel like staying up.

When he finally sat down on his bed, he noticed Boot lying in Johnny's bed. He gave the dog a pat on the head before getting under his own covers. Boot whimpered and looked up at Roy as he lay down, seeming to ask how Roy's day had been. Roy chuckled a little, but humoured his suspicion anyway.

"Today was a rough day, Boot...I may have lost my partner's friendship for good..."

Boot whimpered and lay his head down, giving Roy an almost concerned look.

"I wouldn't expect you to understand, but..."

Roy couldn't quite explain it, but he figured the dog would listen to him, so he continued to talk.

"You know, I really care about him...about Johnny...but I think I scared him a little too much...I guess I'm sorry I did. No. I _am_ sorry I did...I'd give anything for things to be back to normal."

Boot looked up and tilted his head at Roy as if to say, _that's not what you want_, but Roy was sure he'd imagined that part of it.

Nevertheless...

"You're right...it's _not_ what I want...but it'd be better than him being so sore at me all the time. I'm...I'm getting tired of that...I'm..." He blinked. "I'm talking to a dog..."

Boot whimpered again and lay his head back down on the bed, sighing and seeming to say, _yeah, I get that a lot._

Roy sighed too. "Sorry, boy...I'm just..." He paused. "I just don't know what to do."

About 45 minutes later, Roy heard the rest of the crew coming into the dorms. They weren't being very considerate about the fact that Roy was trying to sleep, but Roy was too tired to make a scene of it.

Johnny laughed at something Mike said, then walked over to his bed, noticing immediately that there was a dog in it.

"Boot! Out! That's my bed!"

Boot didn't even look at him. He simply sighed and continued to lie there, sprawled out spread-eagle on Johnny's bed.

Johnny glared at the dog. Without another word, he picked up the blanket and threw Boot off the bed with it. Boot hit the ground on all fours, looking mighty surprised. He looked around, shook himself off, then looked at Johnny as if to say, _I'll get you back for that...when you least expect it..._

Johnny just shook his head at the dog and got under his covers, pulling them up to his neck.

Sure enough, a few hours later...

_BUMP._ "Nnggghhh...You fuckin' dog...I _hate_ you..."

Roy opened an eye. Johnny had apparently been sleeping peacefully when Boot had gotten the brilliant idea to shove him off his bed. Roy stifled a chuckle.

Johnny got up and dusted himself off. "Shut _up_, Roy...Dammit..." He whispered.

"Have fun sleeping on the couch..." Roy whispered back.

"Ha, ha." Johnny whispered sarcastically, trying to grab his blanket from the dog. But Boot wouldn't give it up, he growled and pulled it back.

"OH, excuse me, your royal _highness_, but this is my..." He yanked again..."Fucking..." Boot growled louder and yanked back..."Blanket...!" Johnny pulled as hard as he could, but Boot let go at the last minute, causing Johnny to topple to the floor. As he lay there, seething, Boot got up and grabbed the blanket, arranging it on the bed in the shape of a nest. Before he got in it, he turned his back side towards Johnny, raised his tail, scratched his back legs across the bed and sneezed, as if to say, _So there. I'm done with you._

"Hey Gage, could you cut it out? Some of us are trying to sleep here," Chet said from the bunk across the walkway. Johnny looked like he was about to blow a gasket.

Roy couldn't help but let out a little laugh, covering his mouth so he wouldn't do it again.

"_Shut...up..._" Johnny said through gritted teeth. He put on his bunker gear and his blue jacket and headed into the commons, plopping down onto the couch and trying to get into a comfortable position.

He got onto his back, but there was a spring pushing quite uncomfortably into his left shoulder blade. He grumbled and turned onto his side, but that same spring seemed to push right into his ribs. He growled and put his head at the other end of the couch, but there was a spring there that seemed to push right into his ear. Grumbling, he sat up, contemplating what he should do.

He wasn't going to kick Boot out of his bed again, cos Boot would surely just push him back off. He didn't want to sleep on the floor because it was too bloody cold. He couldn't get comfortable on the stupid couch. The extra beds in the dorm weren't fitted with linens...and he was really too tired to fit them.

In his mind, there were only two choices...stay awake, or share a bed...

"I'm too damned tired to care anyway..." Johnny said aloud, taking off his jacket and heading back into the dorms.

"How was the couch?" Roy whispered.

"You ask it, I'm not speaking to it." Johnny said irritably. "Now, scoot over."

Roy blinked, now wide awake. "Huh?" Had he just heard him right?

"I said, _scoot...your ass...O-ver..._" Johnny annunciated, gesturing for Roy to move.

Roy hesitated, but eventually did as Johnny requested.

_This should be...interesting..._ he thought.

Johnny plopped down next to Roy, settling in a little. It was better than the couch, that's for sure.

Roy stared at his new bedmate for a moment. He wondered how much he should read into this...but he shook his head before deciding to just ignore it and try to get some sleep.

Johnny lay there for a moment before realising that all the excitement had made him a bit restless. He turned onto his side for a moment, then onto his back. He stayed there for a good twenty minutes but, just as Roy had started to doze off, Johnny huffed and moved back onto his side.

"Johnny, stop moving around...please...I'm trying to sleep." Roy mumbled.

Johnny turned over and buried his face into the pillow. He stayed still...for about four minutes, then turned back onto his side facing away from Roy.

Roy gave an exasperated sigh, put his arms around Johnny and held him there. "Hold..._still_...damn it." he whispered.

Johnny froze. He could feel Roy's warm breath on his neck, making the fine hair on his arms and the back of his neck stand on end. He tried to move, but Roy tightened his grip.

Johnny shut his eyes, not sure of what might happen next...but he slowly realised, as Roy's breath began to shallow, that he wasn't doing anything weird...

Johnny slowly turned his head to look behind him at Roy. He was fast asleep.

Johnny blinked. He looked so peaceful, lying there, and it took Johnny about three seconds to forget why he had been sore at him. He even forgot that it was weird to sleep in a bed with another man, and found himself settling into the warmth of Roy's embrace.

It felt so warm...so nice...so...safe. He almost wished the wake-up tones would never sound.

* * *

_AN_:  
Boot...I love you. XD  
Sorry there was no Cat Lady in this chapter, but she makes more appearances in the next two chapters, so yeah.

*The nickname _Silent Stoker_ came from another story here on FFN...I liked it so much I decided to use it...Hope you don't mind. ^^;

DISCLAIMER  
This is just for fun...I'm not trying to mess with the story that has been established, I just wanted to see what might happen if I changed the conditions a bit.  
(So, please, understand...I'm only doing this for fun and I'm not trying to start anything, so...give it a chance before you shoot me...please?)  
This is just a wild, hare-brained idea I got, so if you like it, thanks in advance.

ALSO: I'd be interested to know what everyone thinks of the Crazy Cat Lady...I have a series of her crazy rescues that I could post as a separate thing...so if anyone wants to see that, just let me know.


	4. CH 4 Say What You Need to Say

ALTERNATE REALITY:  
CONDITIONS-  
ROY IS NOT MARRIED  
ROY HAS NEVER MET JOANNE  
KELLY BRACKETT AND DIXIE McCALL ARE NOT TOGETHER (YET)  
DIFFERENT (MADE-UP) STREET NAMES

CHAPTER 4- SAY WHAT YOU NEED TO SAY

-%-

Johnny remembered that morning. He remembered why he was sore at Roy. He remembered that it was considered weird to sleep in a bed with another man.

That's why he was secretly sore at himself for pretending to be asleep when Roy got up to use the latrine that morning.

He lay there in the warmth that Roy had left him in...feeling happy and guilty and angry all at the same time. He'd been so warm that night...felt so safe that night...so why did Roy have to be the one who made him feel that way? To be sure, he wouldn't have just climbed into bed with Chet or the Cap...hell, not even with Marco or Mike. Roy was the only one he'd felt comfortable doing something like that with, even after all they'd been through in the past couple of days. He quietly sighed, knowing that their little problem was far from being resolved.

He looked over at his bed to see that Boot was gone, but the linens were very mussed and twisted; He'd sure left evidence of his presence. Johnny almost scoffed...then he remembered he was supposed to be asleep. He figured he should get up and fix the linens or something...But he wanted to stay there in the warmth...just for a few more minutes...

He mentally kicked himself for lying there, even when Roy came back into the room. Roy stood over Johnny and fought every temptation to brush his bangs out of his face.

Johnny was still pretending to be asleep, but somehow Roy knew better.

He just looked so..._No. Don't go there, DeSoto._

He left Johnny on his bed and started fixing the mussed linens on Johnny's bed. Even though the light had started to peek through the blinds, it was still only 0630 and nobody else was awake.

Boot walked into the room, coming up to Roy and wagging his tail.

"Hey Boot." Roy whispered, patting the dog on his head and scratching behind his ears. "Thank you, boy."

Boot squeezed his eyes, and it almost looked as though he was smiling and saying, _Anytime, my friend._

Ok. Roy _knew _he'd imagined _that_...he inwardly chuckled at himself as he continued to fix the linens.

Still...He had to give the dog credit for getting Johnny to sleep in his bed...That's why he had no qualms about fixing the dog's mess.

"Good boy, Boot." Roy said, chuckling and patting Boot's head again. If nothing else, he had to give Boot credit for lifting his mood.

Mike was the next one to wake up at 0700, and he went into the kitchen to start on the coffee. The wake-up tones sounded at 0730, and B shift started getting there around 0750. B shift's roll call was promptly at 0800, and that was the time for A shift to go home.

Four days off! That's exactly what Johnny was looking forward to as he hopped into his well-used, white, 1968 Land Rover. He planned on going to Long Beach for a day or two, then maybe coming home for a while to catch the weekend matinees at the cinema. What he didn't plan on was how much Roy DeSoto would be on his mind.

Even at the beach, where he usually felt so far away from his troubles, he couldn't stop his mind from returning to his partner. He knew Dixie was right, he knew he should talk to Roy, but he really didn't know what to say. He was too sore.

He was sore at Roy for being so sensitive, he was sore at Dixie for being so right, and he was sore at himself for being so tongue-tied...and for spending so much damned time thinking about it when he'd already made up his mind to deny its very existence.

But he finally admitted to himself, as he watched the sun setting over the watery horizon, that he was sorry he'd been so hard on Roy.

In his mind, he saw Roy's face when he had called him _DeSoto_ only two days prior. Roy had looked...well, he had looked very upset. Deeply hurt, even. Johnny looked down at the water that had slowly begun to lick at his toes.  
_Problem or not...He is my partner, and I know he cares about me...and yeah, maybe this whole thing was partly my fault..._ He thought, struggling to pick up a shell that had washed up on the shore with his foot. _I didn't mean to hurt him...I still want to be his friend...I just...Well, all I've gotta do is...set some boundaries...just like Dixie said..._Though, what those boundaries were and how he'd go about setting them, he had no idea.

Roy had a relaxing couple of days off. It was nice, not having Magdeline calling him every five minutes to ask him a question or give him an update on what her body was doing...or ask him if he should come over and "check on her".

When she would call, she would usually end up doing all the talking, and Roy barely got a word in edgewise. He'd finally just gotten into the habit of busying himself with something else when she called. He figured out that if he said an occasional, "Uh-huh," or "Oh...", she usually didn't notice that he wasn't paying her any attention...unless she asked him a question.

Of course, keeping him on the phone like that for a couple of _hours_ had gotten on his nerves a bit.

Now that she was finally out of his life, he was glad that she wasn't doing such a number on his phone bills.

Roy remembered that Chet had a date with her, and knew that her calls would start about two hours before he picked her up. He felt terribly sorry for Chet, but at the same time...Chet kinda deserved it. Roy smiled as he thought of the horror stories Chet was bound to have when A shift rolled back around...

_A shift..._

Roy's smile faded a little as Johnny came to his mind. He wondered how things would be when they returned to work together. It wasn't going to be easy. He figured he should just stay quiet, like he had just two days prior, and give Johnny all the space he could manage to give him.

He wondered how Johnny was doing...if, maybe, he was thinking of him..._No_...Roy thought. _Johnny probably has some hot date or something...he wouldn't be wasting his time thinking about his stupid old partner._

Roy had no idea that Johnny was actually wasting _most_ of his time thinking of his "stupid old partner".

Johnny was even brooding over Roy the moment he arrived at the station, walking into the locker room and starting to change into his uniform. Chet and Marco were already in there, changing, and if he knew Mike, he was already done with the coffee by then. Roy came in a moment after Johnny had, just in time to catch the conversation he'd known was going to happen.

"How was your date, Chet?" asked Marco.

"_Terrible_." Chet groaned. "I'm sorry I ever gave her my number."

"How's that?" Marco asked.

"Well, she won't leave me alone!" Chet whined. "OK, So, first off, she called me right before I came to pick her up, and she wouldn't even let me get a word in! She kept me on the line so long, I ended up being late to pick her up! Then we were late for the reservations at the restaurant, and _I_ got blamed for everything! I'm tellin' ya, she was a _nightmare_! And even after all that, she's _still_ callin' me! She woke me up at four in the morning last night _just_ to tell me about how she'd _forgiven_ me about the whole restaurant thing, and to give me a _beauty_ of a sob story about how she felt _so alone_ in her _big, lonely house_ all by _herself_," Chet said in a mocking tone. "I'll tell ya, I didn't believe a minute of it! She's pretty, but...God_damn_. That's the _only_ thing goin' for her."

"I told you she wasn't much of a sweetheart," Roy said, leaning on the side of his locker and unbuttoning his plaid flannel. "Silky voices and pretty faces can be deceiving."

Chet looked Roy straight in the eye. "I'll never doubt you again..." He made like he was going to get his shirt out of his locker, but hesitated. Roy knew exactly what he was going to ask next.

"Say, uh...how'd you get rid of her, Roy?" He asked, giving Roy a sideways glance.

"I told her off. And you helped when she called me again. Remember? You distracted her with your, ah..._charms_." Roy said, giving Chet a look.

"Oh...yeah," Chet said, furrowing his brows and making a disgusted face. "I'm sorry I did."

After roll call, the Cap paired Marco and Roy up to clean the dorm and the locker room, it was Chet's turn for latrine duty, and Mike and Johnny got to check the apparatus and make breakfast. (The Cap himself had the not-so-wonderful task of doing a whole lot of necessary paperwork.) The squad was still out on a run, but Mike and Johnny checked the engine, made sure everything was in order, and went into the kitchen to start breakfast. Mike started making his famous scrambled eggs while Johnny got started on the toast and bacon. He'd hoped he'd get a chance to talk to Roy before the day got started, but his luck just didn't seem to be in the right place.

Halfway through breakfast, the C shift paramedics came back, and he and Roy quickly finished their breakfasts to go and check their equipment. They said goodbye to the guys from C Shift and opened the compartments to check everything.

"You've got a stokes at Rampart...it was a crazy shift," warned Carter as he left.

"Thanks, Carter," said Roy.

"Hey, Roy?" Johnny finally asked as he started to check the drug box.

"Yeah?" Roy said, getting out the biophone to start the daily check.

"Uh...well..." Johnny started, but he kept hesitating, not quite sure of what he really wanted to say. "Uhh..."

Roy stopped what he was doing and looked at Johnny when he noticed his hesitation. A little hope glimmered in his eyes. Was...this the talk they were supposed to have?

Johnny fidgeted a little before opening his mouth. "Well, I was wondering if-"

He was interrupted by the call tones. "Squad 51, unknown-type rescue. 1121 West Harper. 1-1-2-1 West Harper. Cross street, Applewood. Time out, 0:15."

Johnny rolled his eyes and they both sighed as they hurried to put their equipment away.

Roy silently cursed the call tones and that senile, confusticated crazy cat lady for interrupting...whatever Johnny had to say. He held onto the hope that maybe...they could pick up the conversation after the call...as long as the lady's little "angels" didn't injure Johnny too bad.

"LA, Squad 51, 10-4. KMG 365." Johnny said into the transceiver, writing down the conditions and handing the paper through the window to Roy.

As he got into the squad, he put on his helmet. "Well, let's go see what the little _angels_ did now." He said in a bored tone.

"I...I don't even want to turn on the sirens..." admitted Roy, his irritation seeping into his voice.

He did anyway.

When they arrived at the large house across the street from the park that they knew all too well, they hopped out of the squad, and despite their reluctance, jogged up to the front door, not even bothering to grab any equipment.

There she was, the crazy cat lady, in all her toothless glory, hopping from one foot to the other on her front porch. As soon as Roy and Johnny got to the porch, they could hear her shrill antics.

"Oh help, help my poor kitties! They've really gotten into it this time!" She howled.

Roy and Johnny didn't even answer her. They simply went right into the house and prepared to do their job...no matter how crazy the rescue she'd cooked up for them that time might be.

They walked into the living room and through the dining room...and strangely enough, there were no cats to be seen.

Roy and Johnny exchanged confused glances. Had _all_ the cats gotten themselves stuck somewhere? Johnny shuddered at the thought. That meant 15 potential injuries right there...

That's when they heard it: a muffled mewing...in time with a soft, rhythmic thumping...

Roy's eyes went wide. "I think I know where they are...but I hope I'm wrong..."

Roy led the way down the long hall towards the thumping sound. It got louder the father down they went. As they walked into the room at the far end of the hallway, the crazy cat lady at their heels, muttering to herself, they finally saw the source of the ruckus.

Johnny almost fell over. Roy's face fell into his hand. Three of this woman's cats were stuck...in a running dryer.

"Ohh, no..." Johnny said, backing away. "I'm not touching this one..." He tried to back all the way out of the room, but Roy grabbed his arm.

"Ohh, yes you are..." He said. "I'm going to get our equipment, and you're staying here-"

"No way, José! I'll go get the equipment, and _you_ can stay here-"

"Let me finish, will ya?" Roy said, "You turn off the dryer, and don't open it until I get back with our gloves and turnout coats."

Johnny frowned. He was about to object, but Roy had already jogged down the hallway towards the front door. _How do I let myself get talked into these things?_ Johnny thought as he turned off the dryer, hearing the rhythmic thumping stop, but the mews of protest become louder.

_So just _how _did this woman get her cats in a dryer?_ Johnny thought. The sheer mechanics of it were mind boggling...and he wondered why these cats even stuck around at all. The only reason Johnny could think of was that these cats _had_ to be crazier than their lady herself.

And they'd probably be pretty mad when they got out of the dryer...

The thought made Johnny's skin crawl.

He looked at the cat lady. "Just how did they get in there?" Johnny asked her, being careful to raise his voice a little.

"They shouldn't have been lying in the wash!" The cat lady said irritably. "I didn't even notice them in there!"

Johnny paused. The _dryer _was for..._drying_ things, wasn't it? Any cat in his right mind wouldn't plant himself in the wet laundry...right?

Something about this situation was starting to smell like...

Dirty laundry. And an acute case of senility.

Roy finally came back with their turnout coats and gloves...and the trauma box. Johnny took one look at it and glared at Roy.

"Very funny," he said.

Roy shook his head. "Hey, I'm not taking any chances with these crazy cats..." Roy said, low enough that the cat lady wouldn't hear.

Johnny frowned, but he couldn't blame Roy for being cautious.

He fastened his turnout coat all the way to his neck...just in case.

When they had their gloves on, they carefully approached the dryer. The laundry was moving around as the hissing balls of fur inside became more and more restless.

"Hey, maybe we should, uh...You know, give them a chance to...cool off?" Johnny suggested.

"No," Roy said, "We have no idea how much air they have in there."

Johnny gulped. "Oh, yeah..." He said.

The crazy cat lady was unusually quiet as the two men slowly assessed the situation. She wanted to yell, or mutter, or something, but it was almost as if all of the oxygen had been sucked from the room.

Johnny hesitated as he reached for the latch, his mind catching up with him. _Hey, why am _I_ opening the dryer? _he thought. Roy looked at him expectantly.

"Well?" He asked.

"Uhh...w-what do we do when they come out?" Johnny asked slowly.

"Um..." Roy closed his eyes as he thought for a moment. "Duck and cover," he said when he opened them again. He was completely serious.

Johnny gulped again as he reached for the latch, hesitating again and looking back at Roy. He made like he was about to say something.

"Johnny, the anticipation is killing me! Just open the damn dryer!" Roy said.

"Alright, alright!" Johnny said, turning back to the task at hand. His hand lingered over the latch before he finally got the courage to touch it, and he took a deep breath before he finally got the courage to open it. When he did, he fell into the fetal position on the floor as two hissing cats bounded from the dryer, one with a rather large bra stuck around it's tail.

Just when Johnny thought he was going to evade injury, he felt a sharp pain on the back of his neck as the last cat scampered over his back and down the hallway. He yelped and shot up, he hand flying to his neck. He brought his hand forward and found a considerable amount of blood there. He cursed under his breath as Roy rushed over with the trauma box, taking out a bandage.

"I think she just nicked a blood vessel..." Roy said, gingerly applying the bandage. "You'll be fine in a few days."

Johnny looked up to make sure the old woman had run off after her "little angels" like usual before opening his mouth.

"Roy, this old woman shouldn't be allowed to live alone anymore. She's only keeping us away from the real emergencies, and I somehow seem to get injured every damn time we help her!"

"Well, we can't just kick her out of her house, Johnny! She hasn't done anything wrong."

Johnny looked at Roy like he'd just said he'd kicked his own grandmother.

"Nothing wrong? Roy!" Johnny began to count on his fingers. "Cats don't belong in trees, they don't belong in lock boxes, they don't belong in pipes, they don't belong in juke boxes, they don't belong stuck to ceiling fans, and they sure as hell don't belong in running dryers!"

Roy frowned. "...I see your point," he said.

Johnny raised his hands as if to say, "there, I rest my case."

"Alright...we'll make sure Vince is alerted to the next time we get a call from her. He's the only one with the authority." Roy sighed.

Johnny shook his head and sighed too. He just hoped there wasn't a next time.

By the time Johnny and Roy got out to the squad and headed off, Johnny's neck had started to sting badly. He tried to hide his discomfort, but his hand kept coming back up to his neck as he tried not to think about the pain.

"How about we get you to Rampart so they can check on that scratch?" Roy said cautiously.

Johnny was glad to hear that Roy wasn't going to tease him about this. "Yeah, thanks," he said.

When they arrived at Rampart, they told Dixie the whole story, and she agreed that the cat lady was too senile to live alone anymore.

"A running dryer, my _goodness_..." Dixie said, sighing and shaking her head. She then tapped one of her nurses on the back and asked her if she'd check and clean Johnny's wound. She must have been new, because neither paramedic had ever seen her there before. She was pretty, too...

They all walked into treatment three and she walked right up to Roy, smiling and putting out her hand.

"Hello, Mr...Mr..."

"Roy. Roy Desoto," Roy said with a little smile, taking her hand.

"My name's Betty," she said, smiling sweetly and shaking Roy's hand.

"And I'm Johnny Gage," Johnny said, putting on a smile and pushing his way in front of Roy to take her hand.

"He's the one with the injury..." Roy said, completely undaunted by Johnny's behaviour.

"Pleasure," she said to Johnny, her smile failing to reach her eyes. She took her hand from him and got out her supplies, sitting Johnny on a chair, pushing his head down and taking the bandage off his neck. She looked up at Roy as she started to clean the wound.

"It doesn't look like he'll need stitches," Betty said, smiling at Roy again.

"That's good to hear," Roy said, smiling back. Johnny looked up at the two of them, finding himself getting a little irritated at their smiles. Betty pushed his head back down and continued to clean the wound.

"Oww! Could you be a little more careful?" Johnny said, his hands curling up into fists on his knees.

"Well, hold still!" Betty said sternly, then looked back up at Roy, her voice taking on a more silky tone. "So, Roy...why'd you become a paramedic?"

Johnny once again found himself bristling. Who the hell did she think she was!

"Well, I've always wanted to help people, so I became a rescue man for the fire department, but we weren't doing much good not being able to treat people in the field, so when the paramedics programme was proposed, I decided to take the chance on the bill* passing and went through the training. We had to be prepared."

"That is _so_ heroic of you," Betty said, her eyes seeming to sparkle with admiration.

"I'm a paramedic, too-oww!" Johnny said, trying to look up at them. Betty didn't even acknowledge him, she just pushed his head back down and continued to talk to Roy.

"So Roy, do you have a family? You seem like a...family kinda guy."

Johnny made a sound that sounded a bit like a scoff. What did this girl _mean_, talking to Roy like that!

"Oh, uhm, no, not yet...I...just haven't found the right person yet," Roy said.

"Oh, really?" Betty said softly, absent-mindedly brushing some of the hair out of her face before putting a new bandage on Johnny's neck. "You must be...terribly lonely."

Johnny rolled his eyes. _Oh,_ _PLEASE. How incredibly sappy!_

"Uhm, ah-yeah, a little..." Roy said, nervously adjusting his shirt.

Betty finally stepped back and put her supplies away, all the while giving Roy what Johnny thought was a very _disgusting_ doe-eyed look.

Johnny quickly got out of his chair and grabbed Roy by the arm.

"C'mon Roy, let's _go_," he said irritably. Roy sent confused glances at Johnny and then at Betty as Johnny dragged him out into the corridor.

"Bye, Roy...I'll see you later!" Betty called, waving and watching him go with a hopeful look on her face.

"What was that all about?" Roy asked Johnny when they got into the squad and headed back to the station.

"I..I dunno, she just...rubbed me the wrong way, is all," Johnny said, staring out the window with his cheek in his hand. "I'd've liked her better if she hadn't been so..." Johnny sighed. "Forget it."

Roy gave his partner a long look as they pulled up to a red light. He started to say something, then thought better of it and shut his mouth. He pulled forward when the light turned green, confused at the turn of events he'd just witnessed. Somehow, Johnny seemed more than upset that Betty had been paying Roy all that attention and hadn't even bothered to give him a second glance...or was it that? Could he actually be jealous-

Roy shrugged it off. _No, Roy...That's just wishful thinking._

Dr. Kelly Brackett walked down the corridor towards his office. He'd been having trouble his whole shift trying to keep his father's friend, Frances Norton, off his mind, but he just kept coming back into his thoughts. He'd been thinking of things he'd been surprised to remember, like the fishing trip he'd taken nearly two decades ago with Franc and his father off the Florida keys. He'd ended up falling in the water after hooking something that was bigger than him. Even though Franc was the oldest person in the group, he'd jumped in after Kel. He'd saved his life.

But Kel had been helpless to do the same for old Franc.

Dr. Brackett slumped into the chair behind his desk, buried his face in his hands...and proceeded to cry.

"I want to see a doctor right now! This a very bad cigar burn, you know!"

"Sir, all of the Doctors are otherwise occupied. Would you please sit down?" Dixie McCall said calmly. Standing up to a frustrated man that was nearly twice her size was all in a day's work, but that didn't mean it wasn't difficult.

"I told you, I want to see a doctor! Why can't you get me a doctor for a little thing like a cigar burn, huh? It'll only take a second to fix this up!" The man said, raising his voice and taking a bit of a threatening stance. Dixie stood her ground.

"Because this is the _Emergency _room, sir. Our doctors are dealing with people who are critically injured. There is a car accident victim in treatment four who will bleed to death without the proper care. That's his wife over there." She gestured to a shaken-looking woman who was crying on a nurse's shoulder and saying over and over again, "God, please don't let him die! ...Please don't let him die..."

The tall man seemed to have lost his voice.

"You see, sir, our doctors must deal with the most serious patients first. You and your cigar burn can wait." Dixie said, leaving the man standing there with a dumbstruck look on his face, satisfied that he wasn't going to make any more noise.

She sighed as she walked down the corridor. She was tired. Her back ached. Her feet ached. She'd been there since 0430 that morning. She needed a coffee and a French massage.

The French massage was out of the question for now, but the _coffee_ she could manage.

She walked into the coffee room and poured herself a cup. She started towards the door, but hesitated. Kel wasn't having the best of days...

She poured another cup and walked out to take it to him.

She wasn't expecting to see what she saw when she opened the door to his office.

Dr. Brackett got up when she walked in. His eyes were red, and she could tell he'd been crying.

"Kel..." She said walking over to him, setting the coffee on his desk and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

Dr. Brackett took a deep, shaky breath. "Yeah, Dix...I'm fine...just needed a good cry." He said, his voice low.

"Frances on your mind?" Dixie asked quietly.

"Yeah..." Dr. Brackett said, pausing to rub his face. "The memorial's this Sunday," he said, looking down at the floor.

"Do...you need me to go with you?"

"No, it's...fine Dix. I wouldn't expect you to drop everything and go with me to his memorial...you didn't even know him..."

"If you need me there, I'll go."

Dr. Brackett gave Dixie a long look. He lost himself in her eyes for a moment; they were so full of concern and caring...

"Thank you, Dix," he said softly.

"You know you can call me if you need anything, Kel," she said, rubbing his shoulder. "Anything at all."

He seemed to hesitate, then brought his arms around her. She felt a soothing warmth spread itself between and around them, almost as if it was a blanket. He hugged her like that for a long time, then pulled away ever so slightly...she closed her eyes when she felt his lips brush against hers, then sighed a little when he finally captured her mouth in a kiss. They kissed for what seemed like hours before Dr. Brackett pulled away. Dix was sad to feel the warmth fade.

"Thank you, Dix...for everything," he said, stooping to kiss her cheek before he picked up his coffee mug and brought it to his lips.

Dixie smiled, staring up at him and allowing what had just happened to fully sink in. Her cheeks were flushed.

They sat at his desk and drank their coffee in silence for a while, smiling and holding hands.

When Dixie finished her cup, she stood and cupped his face, then moved to leave. Kel stopped her by gently holding onto her hand, then stood with her and kissed her again for what seemed like eternity.

When they finally broke the kiss, Kel smiled at her and let go of her hand.

Dixie smiled back and took both their coffee cups, heading out of Kel's office.

"...Who needs a French massage after _that_?" Dixie said to herself as she walked down the corridor towards the coffee room.

Johnny and Roy silently walked into the kitchen, Roy carrying two brown-paper grocery bags. Johnny swiped an apple from one of the bags and took it to the table, shining it on his shirt before biting into it.

Roy only looked mildly annoyed as he sat the bags on the counter and proceeded to take what he had bought out of the grocery bags: another apple, a banana, a quart of milk, three cans of tomato paste, two blocks of Colby cheese, a bag of sliced pepperoni, three large rounds of French bread, six bell peppers, a bag of sliced mushrooms, a clove of garlic, a red onion, and some pickled peppers.

Chet came over to the counter and watched as Roy took each thing out of the bag.

"What'cha makin' for lunch, Roy?" He asked.

"Pizza...the cheap way. You guys only owe me 95 cents each," Roy said, pushing past Chet to put the milk and the fruit in the refrigerator.

"Hey, swell!" Chet said, smiling. "It better not taste as cheap as it cost you."

"You want to help me chop these peppers, Chet?" Roy asked, getting out the cutting board.

Chet's smile faded. "Uhh...well, I-I should really be, uh...doing some paperwor-"

"Then get out of here," Roy said, getting out the knife and setting it by the cutting board. "Please," he added when Chet just stood there, giving him a dumb look.

"O-okay..." Chet said, seemingly taken off guard by Roy's bluntness. He finally walked away.

Roy shook his head and started washing the produce.

Johnny, from his perch at the table, was silently eating his apple and watching Roy cook.

He watched Roy wash the produce and set it on the cutting board. He'd never noticed just how red Roy's hair was...

He watched Roy slice the bread rounds into twos, open the cans of tomato paste and spread them on the bread...The hair on Roy's arms was red, too...

He watched Roy grate the cheese over the bread, then lay out the pepperoni and mushrooms on each slice...Johnny remembered that the hair on Roy's chest was red, too...but it was darker...

He watched Roy open the oven, set it to 100, and set the bread in there to warm...

He watched Roy go back to the cutting board and start to chop the onions and peppers...

As Roy bent down over the cutting board, he suddenly found himself wondering if the hair on Roy's arms and chest was the same colour as the hair on his-

Johnny almost choked on his apple. He hadn't _really_ just wondered that, had he?

"You alright?" Roy said, suddenly standing right next to his partner.

"Yeah, I'm *cough* I'm fine, just swallowed wrong, that's all, *cough*" Johnny said hurriedly, his ears burning. He coughed again and got up, putting as much distance between himself and the object of his thoughts.

"Are you sure?" Roy asked, staying where he was.

"Yeah, I'm just...*cough* I'm gonna go...r-read a book," Johnny said, clearing his throat and walking towards the dorm, embarrassment tugging at his insides.

Roy sat reading a newspaper as the pizza baked...Well, at least he had been _trying_ to read it for the past five minutes. He'd read the same line seven times, but he couldn't stop his thoughts from coming back to Johnny. He'd sure been acting strangely all day...

In the morning, before he'd been interrupted by the latest cat lady call...Johnny had wanted to talk to him about...something. Roy wasn't sure what, but he was really curious what it was that Johnny had to say. It had seemed so important...and yet...Johnny hadn't brought it up again.

Johnny had also acted strangely when Roy had been hit on by the pretty nurse at Rampart...Sure, Johnny would probably have been jealous about that on any other day, too, but...he seemed to get overly upset about it this time.

On top of that, when Roy had come over to see if Johnny was alright when he had choked on his apple...he hadn't looked at him, he'd just gotten out of there as fast as he could...as if he were embarrassed by something.

What did it all mean? Roy put his newspaper down and stared at the table, debating whether he should try talking to Johnny, or if he was just imagining things-

He was jolted from his thoughts when the timer for the Pizza went off.

He shook his head and pushed all his crazy thoughts to the back of his mind. He turned off and opened the oven, then pulled out six plates and napkins.

"Chow's done!" he called into the apparatus bay after he'd set the table.

As five other hungry fireman piled into the kitchen (Johnny being the last one through the door), Roy decided that his thoughts-or perhaps his imaginations-could wait until after lunch.

"Hey, Roy, what's got you so quiet?" Chet asked, tilting his head at the silent paramedic.

Roy blinked, finally realising that halfway through lunch, he'd gotten lost in his own thoughts again.

Roy sighed. It seemed that Johnny was rubbing off on him, because he was definitely hung up on the events of the day...and this seemed like a hang-up that wouldn't quit soon.

"I dunno..." Roy lied. "I guess I'm just tired."

"You think _you're_ tired?" Chet moaned. "Magdeline got me up at 0430 this morning-"

_Oh lord. Here it comes._ Roy thought. Was he _really_ going to complain about Magdeline at the table? At least when she'd been attached to Roy, he'd had the decency not to complain about it too much.

But Chet...Chet seemed to _love_ to complain...in fact, that made him and Magdeline the perfect couple as far as Roy was concerned...as long as he didn't have to hear about it.

He-and all the other fireman at the table-simply tuned Chet out...which was ironic to Roy, considering that was exactly the way he had dealt with Magdeline.

Roy shook his head. He had a feeling that it was all gonna work out between her and Chet. They sure had a _lot_ to teach each other.

"And you wouldn't _believe_ the things she calls to tell me about-"

Chet was interrupted by the loud bleat of the call alarm.

Five fireman silently gave thanks for the timing of the alarm as they dropped their pizza and pushed their chairs back.

"Engine 51, garbage fire, in the alley behind 2942 Westminster Ave. Alley behind 2-9-4-2 Westminster ave. Closest cross-street, Bell. Time Out, 5:02."

The engine crew ran to their respective seats on Big Red, while the two paramedics in the kitchen kept their current ones. They slowly pushed themselves back to the table and their Pizza.

They were silent for a while as neither of them could get up the courage to say anything.

Roy finally cleared his throat, breaking the silence.

"So..." he said, before again finding himself at a complete loss for words.

"So..." Johnny repeated.

Silence.

"I...Uhm...You...were gonna talk to me...this morning..." prompted Roy, having found his voice again. He was very curious about why Johnny had been acting strangely, but he didn't want to push his luck; he decided to take this slowly but surely...one step at a time.

"Oh yeah...I uh..." Johnny stalled. He cleared his throat. "I wanted to ask you about, ah...something..."

"Yeah?" Roy said, trying not to let his mixed emotions of curiosity and impatience to seep into his voice. It wan't an easy task.

"Well...ya see...I...I think we need to talk...about...well, y'know." Johnny said, shrugging a shoulder and keeping his eyes on his plate.

Roy bit back a sarcastic remark that threatened to surface about Johnny actually somewhat acknowledging the very issue that he'd denied to have existed. But Johnny was this close to opening up to him...Roy knew that if he let that comment slip, he'd blow everything.

"Yeah, I agree." Roy said instead, his voice only slightly strained.

Johnny sighed. Seeing him so tense made Roy's heart ache, but he remained silent, encouraging him to continue.

"Look, Roy...I...don't want you to...well, what I mean is...Agh. I dunno..."

Roy silently pleaded Johnny not to shut down now.

"Well, I don't...I don't wanna hurt your feelings, but...I...do-I don't want you to...just don't ever kiss me anymore, okay...give me some time...I mean, _space_...Jeezus...I don't even know what I'm saying-" Johnny scooted back in his chair and stood up.

"Wait! Look, I-I'm sorry I kissed you, alright?" Roy said, standing up too.

"Well, y-yeah, you should be!" Johnny said defensively.

Roy was a little taken aback by Johnn's statement. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Look, would you stop pestering me! I'm...I'm straight, a-and that's just how it is, so...so don't get your hopes up, alright, just leave me alone!"

"I thought I _have_ been leaving you alone! We haven't said a decent word to each other all day!"

"Well, don-don't leave me alone all the ti-I mea-I still wanna be your friend, I just...Y-you can't go around kissing me and touching me like that, alright?"

"No, that's not what I-look, Johnny, I still want to be your friend, too...but that doesn't mean I'm going to be all over you! The other day, when I touched your hand-t-that was an accident! And I'm sorry, alright? Can you just forgive me? Please?"

Johnny was quiet for a second as he and his partner looked at each other.

"...Alright," Johnny finally said, breaking the silence. "I forgive you."

Roy felt as though the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. He let out a breath he hadn't even realised he'd been holding.

"Thank you," he said, sitting down. He'd finally said what he'd needed to say and he'd finally been heard. Dixie was right, they'd needed to talk about it.

He still wished that Johnny would give him a chance, but Johnny'd laid it out on the line: He was straight, and that's how it was.

Somehow, it was comforting...but on the other hand, it left a bad taste in Roy's mouth.

As he watched Johnny sit down to finish his pizza, he decided that a bad taste in his mouth would be a small price to pay to keep Johnny's friendship.

Dr. Joe Early walked to the elevators at Rampart General hospital that night whistling a tune. Today had been relatively good; they'd saved more patients than they'd lost, and they'd delivered five happy, healthy babies.

And...on top of that, Ida Melgrove was going to be released soon. Dr. Early had every reason to be happy about that.

In fact, she'd been on his mind a lot since she'd come in a week ago. She had a sparkle in her eye that just wouldn't get out of his thoughts, and a voice that kept playing in his head.

And her face...such a kind and gentile face...with full lips that smiled so sweetly...

To his own embarrassment, he'd been daydreaming about her the whole day.

Not that he didn't like daydreaming about her...but a doctor wasn't supposed to get emotionally involved with a patient...especially not romantically involved.

But somehow, that little rule couldn't get in the way of Dr. Early's terrific mood. He walked into room 305 with a little spring in his step. When she looked up and saw that it was him, she smiled, making him smile back.

"Hello, Ms. Melgrove!" he said. "Ida," he added sheepishly when she gave him a look.

"Hello, _Doctor_ Early," she said, smiling and laughing. "Joe..." she added as he walked over to her bed.

"How are you feeling?" Dr. Early said, trying not to get lost in her eyes as he stared into them.

"Much better, thank you," said Ida. "You all take such good care of your patients here at Rampart..."

Dr. Early smiled. "I'm glad to hear it," he said.

She smiled at him, and he almost forgot why he'd come in to see her...almost.

"Oh, I...have some good news," he said.

"What is it?" She asked, her face filled with a youthful curiosity that warmed Dr. Early's heart.

"You're going home soon. Your release date is...February 14th." Dr. Early said, checking the paperwork.

Then it hit him: "That's valentine's day," He said, blinking.

"Why, that's wonderful news!" She said, her eyes sparkling. Dr. Early nodded and smiled at her.

"I..." she hesitated. "I don't suppose that it would be too much to ask you...if you'd be free to have dinner with me that night, then?" She asked.

Dr. Early's heart rate increased.

"After all," she said, "I'm sick of hospital food."

"I..." Dr. Early said, feeling his face flush. "I'd love to," he said, looking into her eyes.

She smiled back at him. God, she was gorgeous.

"I look forward to it," she said.

"It's...j-just around the corner," said Dr. Early softly, finding himself buzzing with anticipation.

"Not long at all," Ida said, allowing her hand to slide over onto Dr. Early's.

Dr. Early looked down at their hands, his blush deepening.

"Joe..." said Ida, causing him to look up at her. Her eyes sparkled in the low lights of the hospital room, and Dr. Early found himself being drawn to her.

A little voice inside his head told him to stop...that he shouldn't be involving himself with the patients...but as their lips touched, he decided to ignore that little voice...just this once.

* * *

AN:  
*The wedsworth-townswend act- Basically, the bill that gave paramedics the right to perform first-response treatments in the field prior to transport to a hospital.

This is my favourite chapter so far...because of Betty and the Crazy Cat Lady...and when Johnny chokes on his apple. XD

DISCLAIMER  
This is just for fun...I'm not trying to mess with the story that has been established, I just wanted to see what might happen if I changed the conditions a bit.  
(So, please, understand...I'm only doing this for fun and I'm not trying to start anything, so...give it a chance before you shoot me...please?)  
This is just a wild, hare-brained idea I got, so if you like it, thanks in advance.

ALSO: I'd be interested to know what everyone thinks of the Crazy Cat Lady...I have a series of her crazy rescues that I could post as a separate thing...so if anyone wants to see that, just let me know.


	5. CH 5 Life Insurance

ALTERNATE REALITY:  
CONDITIONS-  
ROY IS NOT MARRIED  
ROY HAS NEVER MET JOANNE  
KELLY BRACKETT AND DIXIE McCALL ARE NOT TOGETHER (YET)  
DIFFERENT (MADE-UP) STREET NAMES

CHAPTER 5- LIFE INSURANCE

-

Johnny and Roy walked into Rampart Emergency with the ambulance attendants and a little boy with a splinted arm. He couldn't have been more than seven years old.  
"I told ya, I'm ok, just take me home, and my mom can take care of it. Just please don't tell her where I was! She'll have a cow."  
Dixie walked up to the paramedics. "What seems to be the trouble here?"  
"Here's your trouble right here," Roy said, pointing to the little boy and smiling. "With a capital T."  
The little boy looked sheepishly up at Dixie. "Are you gonna tell her where I was?"  
"I think your mother has every right to know, don't you?" Dixie said, resting her hands on her hips.  
"B-but...she'll be _so_ m-mad...she _told_ me n-not to go there anymore..." the little boy said, wiping a tear away from his eye with his un-splinted arm.  
Dixie smiled a little and knelt down to the little boy's level. "Well, Andy, sometimes mamas get mad at their children for putting themselves in danger, but it's only because they love their children very much and don't want to see them get hurt," Dixie said, putting a hand on the little boy's shoulder.  
"We called your mommy at work, and she came right away-"  
The little boy gave her a worried look, but Dixie continued, "It's alright, Andy. Right now, she's much more worried about you than she is mad at you, okay?"  
As if on cue, Andy's mother walked over, stooped down and hugged her son, being careful to avoid this splinted arm.  
"Oh, Andy...I'm so glad you're alright..." she said.  
"I'm sorry, mama," said Andy, looking at the floor. "I'll never go back to the junkyard ever again. I promise."  
"Well, You must be Andy," said Dr. Brackett, kneeling with Dix and Andy's mother. "I'm Doctor Brackett." He put his hand out, and Andy shook it.  
"I'm Andy," the little boy answered.  
"What happened to your arm, Andy?" asked Dr. Brackett.  
"I...was playing on an old dump truck," said Andy, his eyes suddenly becoming animated. "The horn still worked, too! It went 'honk, honk'!"  
Dr. Brackett smiled.  
"But when I came out of the driver's seat, I slipped and fell...that's when the junkyard guy found me," his eyes became sad again.  
"Well...How about we fix up your arm, Andy?" Dr. Brackett said. "If you'll just come with me, I can look at your arm and take some pictures of the bones inside. Would you like to see that?"  
"Yeah!" said Andy, looking happy again. Dr. Brackett smiled and picked Andy up. "Alright, then let's go take those pictures." He nodded at Dix, who smiled, nodded back and got up to go call radiology.  
Roy and Johnny followed her to base station and started gathering their supplies while she was on the phone with radiology.  
"Thanks so much," she said, putting down the receiver. "I'm so happy when they're not curt with me..."  
Roy smiled at her while Johnny stood digging through the IV cabinet for what they needed.  
"Oh, Roy...I almost forgot, you guys have a stokes here, would you mind taking it with you when you leave?" Dixie asked with a smile.  
"Oh, yeah...Carter told me about that this morning...I just completely forgot..." Roy said, surprised at himself.  
"It's alright, Roy, I'm sure you've had a lot on your mind lately," she said, giving him a look behind Johnny's back. "You have time for a quick coffee?"  
"Uh, yeah..." Roy said looking at Johnny.  
"You go ahead...I'll get the rest...I just I can't find the D5W..." said Johnny, still digging through the IV cabinet.

"Hah. That's a laugh...It's right in front of his face. He's really waiting for Clara, 'cos he knows she takes care of base station when I'm on my break, which is...right now," Dixie said aside to Roy as they walked down the corridor toward the coffee room.  
Sure enough, as Roy glanced back toward base station, Clara walked up and sat in Dixie's chair, causing a goofy, lopsided smile to spread itself over Johnny's face. He talked to her for a second, and she just looked at him, rolled her eyes, got up and pointed out the D5W to him.  
"You sure have his number, Dix." Roy said, shaking his head. "The way things are going, he's gonna be chasing skirts here 'till he's 80." He sounded a little disappointed.  
Dixie shrugged as they both walked into the coffee room just as two of Dixie's student nurses were leaving. "Well, he _tries_...I just happen to know that none of my nurses are even interested in him. They actually sit around and talk about what a goof he is. They even warn the new nurses to stay away from him."  
Roy snorted. That could explain the way Betty had regarded him the other day...  
Dix shook her head and poured two cups of coffee.  
"Speaking of our esteemed Mr. Gage...How are you two doing?"  
"Well, we had a talk after lunch..." Roy said vaguely.  
"I'm glad to hear it," said Dixie, taking a sip of her coffee. "But...considering how he was acting around Clara just now and that expression on your face, it didn't go so well..."  
Roy shook his head. "Not for me, no," he said. "At least he still wants to be my friend...but...I don't know. He's just...been acting so weird today...I'm afraid it got my hopes up a little."  
Dixie furrowed her brows. "Weird? How so?" she asked.  
"Well..." Roy said. He didn't know where to begin. "He...wanted to talk to me this morning, I mean he seemed to _really_ want to talk to me, but...of course, the cat lady interrupted us."  
"Oh yes...the _dryer_ rescue..." Dixie said, rolling her eyes.  
"Yup, but he never brought it up again," Roy said, sipping his coffee. "Then when we came in to get Johnny's scratch checked out, Betty...well, she was hitting on me pretty bad, and Johnny got really irritated..."  
Dixie smiled at the mental image.  
"You know...He seemed to get more irritated than he usually would," Roy continued. "But she wasn't exactly being nice to him, either...and..."  
Roy hesitated, as if he were in deep thought.  
"There's...something else, isn't there?" Dixie asked.  
"Yeah, I guess so...but I don't know if it means anything..."  
"What happened?" Dixie prompted.  
"Well...Johnny was sitting at the table eating an apple while I cooked lunch..." Roy began. "And...Well, he nearly choked on it for no apparent reason, and when I tried to ask him if he was alright, he wouldn't make eye-contact, he just left like he was late for a train or something...I dunno," he said, shaking his head. "Maybe I was imagining things."  
Dixie nodded, sipping her coffee. "Maybe...then again, you could be absolutely right, you never know."  
"I doubt it...After lunch, we had our talk, and Johnny laid it all down. He said he was straight and that he didn't want me touching him or kissing him. And that's how it's gonna be," Roy said, sitting back in his chair.  
Dixie furrowed her brows. "Hmm. Alright...I guess that's that," she said, shaking her head. "I think he's missing out on an opportunity, but...if that's the way he really feels..."  
"Then there's not a damn thing I can do about it." Roy said, feeling defeated.  
He finished his cup of coffee and stood up. Dixie stood up with him and put a hand on his shoulder. He shook his head and looked at her.  
"Maybe this whole thing was stupid to begin with. I should never have kissed him in the first place."  
"But you did," said Dixie, shrugging. "And now, you have to deal with the consequences. At least he's still your friend."  
Roy sighed and nodded. He knew she was right.  
"C'mon, I have to get back to it," she said, checking her watch. He nodded and followed her out the door. As he turned to go back to the base station, he heard someone call his name. When he turned around to see who it was, Betty walked up to him and gave him a little hug.  
Dixie raised an eyebrow and kept an eye on them as she walked back to base-station.  
"Hi, Roy, can I ask you a question?" Betty said, giving him one of those doe-eyed looks she'd given him the day they'd met. Roy had to admit, she _was_ attractive...  
"Uh...Yeah, what is it?"  
"Can I have your number?" She said boldly, smiling and handing him a pen and a black notebook.  
Roy was surprised...he'd never been asked for his number before...  
"Uh...a-yeah, sure..." he said, taking the pen and giving her his home phone number.  
"Thank you, Roy," She said. "So...how would you like to...go out with me on Valentine's day?"  
Roy couldn't believe what he was hearing. This was the best luck he'd had with women in years! Why did it have to happen after this whole mix-up with Johnny? Now he was as unsure as ever about what to do.  
Well, one thing was sure. He couldn't have Johnny. So...  
"Sure. When should I pick you up?"  
"How about 5? So we don't have to have a late dinner."  
"Sounds great."  
"I'll call you and give you my address tomorrow morning," she said, walking away and winking at him.  
Roy stood there in his conflicting emotions. What was he doing? He wasn't even sure he was interested in her. He knew next to nothing about her, and he was still a little hung up on Johnny.  
Well...Maybe this would help. Maybe she'd be the perfect cure for his hang up.  
Roy sighed and walked down the corridor towards base station.  
Either way, he was just going to let it happen and hope for the best.

"So, how'd it go?" Roy asked as he stooped down to put the stokes into the back of the squad.  
"How'd what go?" Johnny asked, still holding the box full of supplies he'd taken so long to get.  
"You _did_ ask nurse Clara out to dinner tomorrow, didn't you?"  
"How'd you-well, yeah...but, I..." Johnny stammered, then he sighed. "She's already got someone taking her out."  
"Oh. Figures," Roy said, causing Johnny to shoot him a look.  
"Anyone I know?" Roy asked, ignoring Johnny's look.  
"Oh, nobody special, just a Doctor _Mike Morton_," Johnny said glumly.  
"Ohh..." Roy said, getting into the driver's seat of the squad.  
Johnny got into the passenger's side and leaned on the windowsill.  
"I'm hopeless Roy. You were wrong the other day. _I_ have the worst luck with women."  
_Well, why don't you try men instead?_ Roy thought sarcastically, but his thoughts were interrupted by the beep of the CB radio.  
"Squad 51, what is your status?"  
"Squad 51, available," Johnny said into the transceiver.  
"Squad 51, respond with Engine 51, Station 110 and Battalion 14; Chemical leak, at the oil refinery; Turn at Figueroa and West Anaheim Street. Turn at Figueroa and West Anaheim victims at scene. Time out, 10:20."  
"Squad 51, 10-4," said Johnny, writing the conditions down on a pad of paper.

As the Squad turned onto West Anaheim, a few people waved Roy down and told him to head for road 12. Roy turned and followed their directions until he reached road 12. Turning right as he'd been instructed, Roy saw the line of engines that were already at the scene. From the looks of the smoke rising up from the west side of the building, the chemical leak wasn't the only thing they were dealing with.  
As Roy pulled up and parked, he and Johnny grabbed their turnout gear, the drug box and the biophone. They jogged up to their captain, who was standing with a refinery worker whose hands were shaking and obviously burned.  
"What happened?" Johnny asked.  
"Well, Bill and I were working on the fourth tier, and...all of a sudden, one of the Hydrochloric acid pipes burst, and...it got all over my hands...all over Bill, too...God, I thought he was right behind me when I came down..."  
Roy and Johnny set to work rinsing the worker's hands with distilled water.  
"Where's Bill now, do you know?" Johnny asked.  
"I think he's still up there..." the worker said, nodding his head up towards a large tower.  
Johnny glanced up there, then ran over to the squad to get some rope and a safety belt.  
"I might need the stokes," he called back to Roy as he ran over to the ladder at the bottom of the tower.  
"Alright," Roy called back as he finished wrapping the worker's right hand and moved on to the left.  
Johnny started climbing the ladder, following the acrid smell of the hydrochloric acid all the way up the tower.  
Finally, he saw Bill, lying on his back on the catwalk that led to the fourth tier.  
Johnny ran to him as fast as he could on the narrow walkway, ducking to avoid a low pipe that extended itself just above the victim.  
Bill's face was badly burned, but there was also a red bump on his forehead. Johnny knelt down next to Bill's head and, looking up at the pipe again, deduced that Bill had been following his partner when he'd hit his head on the pipe and fallen where he now lay.

Down on the ground, Roy finished wrapping the other worker's left hand when he heard Johnny call out to him.  
"Roy! We'll definitely need the stokes! This guy's out cold!" Johnny shouted.  
"Go up and help Johnny, Pal, I think we can take it from here," Cap said, handing Roy the HT and reaching for the biophone.  
"Thanks, I'll be sending a rope down for the trauma box in a minute," Roy said, running to grab a safety belt, some more rope and the stokes out of the squad. He was glad that Dixie had reminded him to get it. Sure, there was an extra stokes in the engine, but he would never have forgiven himself if he'd forgotten about the one that belonged in the squad.  
He ran over to the foot of the ladder, adjusting the ropes he carried on his shoulder. He climbed up to the catwalk where Johnny was taking Bill's vitals and walked over to them, kneeling at Bill's feet and putting the stokes behind him.  
He threw a rope over the catwalk railing, signaling Cap for the trauma box.  
"Stand by, Rampart," the Cap said into the biophone, grabbing the trauma box, running to the bottom of the tower and attaching it to the rope.  
Roy signaled his thanks to the Cap and started pulling the trauma box up to the catwalk.  
"How's he doing?" Roy asked Johnny.  
"Well, his pulse is 80, respirations are 19, and he's diaphoretic, and he's got a big bump on his head where he hit it on this pipe, but that's all I really know. I'm not going to check his pupils with this much acid on his face; not until we get him cleaned up," said Johnny.  
Roy nodded as he pulled the trauma box up and set it behind him in the stokes, opening it and getting out the distilled water and burn wraps that he had put in there.  
He handed the water to Johnny and set the burn wraps between the victim's legs for a minute while he relayed the vitals down to the Cap and clipped the HT back onto his belt.  
After Johnny was finished pouring the distilled water over Bill, he handed the water to Roy so that he could wrap Bill up. Roy poured the water over each new wrap until they ran out.  
Roy put the empty water container and the plastic that had held the burn wraps back into the trauma box and sent it down to the ground on the rope.  
Johnny checked the victim's pupils while Roy spread a yellow blanket down into the bottom of the stokes.  
"Let's get him in here," he said, motioning for Johnny to help him put Bill into the stokes.  
Johnny nodded, putting his arms under Bill's and lacing his fingers across Bill's chest. Roy grabbed Bill's legs and stepped carefully over the stokes until he and Johnny were able to lay Bill inside.  
Next, he and Johnny attached three ropes to the stokes and let the rope they'd attached to the middle of the stokes fall down to the ground. The Cap was right there to catch the rope. They lifted the stokes up and over the catwalk railing and slowly let it down towards the ground; Cap helped keep it steady all the way down.  
Once Bill was safely on the ground, Roy and Johnny let go of their ropes and ran for the ladder. Johnny was the first one there, getting on and starting to climb down.  
Suddenly, someone yelled, "Explosion!" and the whole west side of the refinery seemed to go up in flames and a cloud of smoke. Four pipes under the ladder Johnny was on simultaneously burst beneath his position, causing the whole tower to shudder.  
"Johnny! Stay where you are!" Roy yelled, noticing that the acid pouring from two of the pipes beneath Johnny had started corroding the braces that held the ladder in place, making them appear to smoke.  
The metal braces began to groan under Johnny's weight and the strain of the corrosion. Johnny tried to move; tried to climb up to safety, but as one of the metal braces on the ladder broke and the ladder swayed away from the tower, Johnny clung to the ladder, unable to make himself move.  
"Roy!" he called out apprehensively.  
"Johnny!" Roy called. "Give me your hand!"  
Johnny looked up at Roy, who was lying down on the narrow catwalk, reaching out to Johnny.  
Johnny clung to the ladder for a moment before he got enough courage to reach for Roy's hand, but as he did so, another two of the braces broke, causing the ladder to sway violently to the side, threatening to buckle and come crashing to the ground.  
"Johnny! Don't move!" Roy called again, attempting to get himself closer. Johnny could hear the panic in Roy's voice.  
Johnny hugged the ladder until he was sure it had stopped moving. He wished Roy would hurry up and find a way to get him down...he wasn't particularly comfortable about being 65 feet in the air on an unstable ladder...  
Roy got up and tried to find a secure pipe. After rattling a few, he found an iron one that he could safely attach his safety belt to. He took a deep breath and leaned out towards the ladder, his fingers brushing up against it as he desperately tried to pull it back towards the tower.  
"Come on, come _on_..." Roy muttered as he reached for the ladder. "I'm _not_ prepared to live without you, Johnny..."  
"Get the snorkel over here immediately! We've got a man in danger!" Johnny heard the Cap yell into the CB radio down on the ground. At least everyone was doing what they could for him.  
Of course, that didn't mean he wasn't scared to death.  
"Come on..." Roy muttered, stretching out a little farther to try to grab the ladder. His hand brushed it again. At this position, it was just out of his reach, but he slid lower, trying to grab a part of the ladder that was closer to the tower.  
Finally, he was able to get a hand around the side of the ladder and slowly pull it back towards the tower. The ladder groaned, and Roy silently prayed that the extra stress wouldn't make much of a difference.  
Roy slowly stooped lower on the pipe and reached down with one hand for Johnny, his other hand holding the ladder in place. What he'd have given for a piece of rope!  
"Johnny!" he called. "Give me your hand!"  
Johnny looked up at Roy's hand, which looked somewhat reachable now. He hesitated, looking down at the ground below. It was so far down...The ladder started to groan loudly as he took a deep breath and reached out for Roy, grabbing his wrist. He grunted, attempting to push off the rung he was standing on so that Roy could pull him up to the catwalk.  
Suddenly, the ladder gave way, buckling and falling towards the ground. Johnny yelled and let go of the part of the ladder he'd been clinging to, which fell as well, slipping from Roy's hand.  
Roy yelped as Johnny held onto his arm for dear life, feeling like his arm was going to pop right out of its socket. He brought his other arm to Johnny's hands, trying to balance the weight, and slowly began to pull Johnny back up to the catwalk.  
When he'd pulled Johnny up enough that he could reach the catwalk on his own, Johnny grabbed onto it and pulled himself up next to Roy. The two collapsed onto the catwalk, relieved, but breathing hard.  
Johnny looked over at Roy, his partner; the man who'd just saved his life.  
If Roy hadn't been up there with him, he could be dead by now. It was a sobering thought.  
"Thank you," Johnny whispered, although...he wasn't quite sure why he'd whispered it.  
Roy opened his eyes and looked up at his partner, his expression unreadable. "You're welcome."  
As he said it, a tear fell from his eye, but he quickly brushed it away and closed his eyes again, resting on the catwalk as the crew on the ground sent up the snorkel.

Roy and Johnny walked out of treatment room 2 at Rampart general hospital, where they had left their two burn victims in the capable hands of doctors Morton and Early. They were both tired and hungry. They trudged over to base station where Dixie sat doing her paperwork. When She looked up at them, she stood up and looked them over.  
"I heard you two had a close call, are you alright?" she asked.  
"Yeah, we're just fine, Dix..." Roy said, holding his right shoulder.  
Johnny just nodded.  
Dixie looked at the two paramedics. "Are you sure?" she asked.  
"All we need is some rest and a hot shower," Roy said.  
"Well, what happened?" Dixie asked, looking expectantly at the both of them just as Dr. Brackett walked up.  
"I almost fell off a 65-foot-high ladder on the side of a tower," Johnny said. "Luckily Roy was there or I would have been...dead."  
Dixie furrowed her brows and nodded at Roy, who was massaging his shoulder. "What's wrong with your shoulder, did you support all of his weight with one arm or something?"  
"Yeah," said Roy. "For a second, I did."  
"Would you mind if I had a look at it, then?" said Dr. Brackett. "Better safe than sorry."  
"No, not at all," Roy said, following Dr. Brackett into treatment six.  
Johnny stayed behind with Dixie at base station, staring at the floor.  
"Are you alright?" Dixie asked Johnny, putting a hand on his shoulder.  
He shrugged his other shoulder. "As good as can be for someone who almost died, I guess," He said. "If it hadn't been for Roy..." He trailed off, becoming lost in his own thoughts.  
Dixie let him think for a minute. When he sighed, she said, "Johnny, I heard you and Roy had a little talk?"  
Johnny blinked. "If you could even call it that...I don't know...I just couldn't say what I really needed to say to him, you know?"  
Dixie studied his expression. "Yeah?" she prompted.  
"Yeah..." said Johnny. He looked so tired.  
"What would you do differently if you talked to him now?" She asked.  
"I...woulda apologised...for being such an ass," said Johnny.  
Dixie couldn't believe what she was hearing.  
"I blamed him for everything, when really...it was partly my fault too...I mean, the whole-well, you know-that was his fault. But...he's right. I started it."  
"I'm glad you realise that," said Dixie, smiling at him. "Maybe you should tell _him_ that. I'm sure he'd really appreciate it."  
"Yeah...I should..." Johnny said. "Its just that...when I get close to him, I just...I don't-I lose my nerve. I can't even look him in the eye anymore..." He seemed to get lost in his own thoughts again.  
Dixie furrowed her brows. "Why do you think that is?" she asked.  
"Hmm?" Johhny said, awaking from his reverie.  
"Why do you think you lose your nerve around him?" Dixie asked.  
Johnny hesitated, furrowing his brows. "I don't...know. I just do. I can't explain it."  
Dixie wanted to ask Johnny more, but she was interrupted when Roy and Dr. Brackett returned to base station.  
"Try a sack of rice for that shoulder, Roy. It works wonders for muscle-pulls."  
"Thanks, doc. I'll keep that in mind." Roy turned to Johnny. "You ready to go?"  
Johnny nodded and followed Roy as he headed for the door.  
"See you, Dix," Roy said, waving to her.  
Dixie smiled and waved back, but she was still confused about what Johnny had just said.  
It took her a minute to notice that Dr. Brackett was leaning over on the base-station counter, staring at her.  
She smiled. "Yes, Kel?"  
"You have beautiful eyes, do you know that?" said Dr. Brackett.  
Dixie laughed, flushing at the cheeks. "Alright, what do you want?" she asked, smiling.  
"One night. With you," he said, placing a hand over hers. "Valentine's day? At my place?" He offered.  
Dixie smiled, pretending to think it over. "Oh, I don't know..." she teased.  
"Do I have to get on my knees and beg you?" said Kel suavely.  
Dixie fought back a schoolgirly giggle. "No, I couldn't bear to see you grovel," she said.  
"Then what's your answer?" Dr. Bracket asked.  
"I'll see you at 7:00," said Dixie, taking her hand from him and sauntering seductively past him with some paperwork she needed to take to radiology.  
Dr. Brackett smiled as he headed for treatment two.

When Johnny and Roy returned to the station, they heard the Cap on the phone with somebody in his office. Even though the door was closed, they could still hear him arguing about saving money versus having safe equipment with someone from the oil refinery.  
Everyone had calmed down quite a bit by the time the station sat down to dinner, but Johnny still couldn't get the tower rescue out of his mind. Roy had sounded so concerned...so panicked when the ladder had threatened to collapse...and he was certain he'd heard Roy say...  
_No._ Johnny shook his head as he reached for the green bean casserole. Hopefully, dinner could take his mind off of things.  
"So...Valentine's day's tomorrow," Chet said, smiling at the other five fireman at the table.  
"Oh yeah...I know..." The other five fireman hoped Chet would drop it right there, but...  
"Well, aren't you gonna ask me what I've got planned?"  
No such luck. The five men hesitated, looking at each other, expecting someone else to do the asking. They all looked at Marco, who sighed and finally spoke up  
"_What_ do you have planned for Valentine's day, Chester?" he said.  
"Well..." Chet began. The other five fireman weren't really sure they wanted to hear this...but unfortunately, no call alarm came to their rescue.  
"I'm going to invite Magdeline over to my house for dinner," Chet said.  
Five heads turned in his direction, and five surprised pairs of eyes stared at him.  
"Now, why in the world would you put yourself through _that_ again?" Roy asked.  
"Yeah, I thought your last date went terrible!" said Marco.  
"Well, I decided...You know, as any reasonable and tolerant man wou-"  
Johnny stifled a snort. Chet shot him a glare.  
"As any _reasonable_ and _tolerant_ man would do," he repeated, staring Johnny down, "I figured I ought to give her another chance. I mean, it's only fair," said Chet. "But this is the last chance I give her."  
"Uh-huh..." the Cap said, slowly nodding his head.  
Roy shook his head. Chet hadn't known Magdeline long enough to be talking like that...  
"You know, she called me and asked me if I had anything going on tomorrow night, and I don't, so I invited her over. You know, I don't want to be a jerk or anything!"  
"Too late. You've always been a jerk," Johnny blurted. The Four other fireman laughed.  
"Hey, would you cut it out, Gage? Nobody asked _your_ opinion." Chet said, glaring at the young paramedic.  
"Well Chet, are you cooking for her or are you ordering takeout?" Mike asked, shifting the attention away from Johnny.  
"Well, I'm cooking for her, Mike! I'm not _that_ indecent!" Chet said. Laughs erupted from the five other fireman.  
"Oh, for heaven's sake, Chet, get the girl some takeout!" Mike said.  
"Yeah," said Marco. "She'll never survive your cooking!"  
"I can cook just fine!" Chet said defensively.  
"Oh yeah? Then why is it that not even Boot can stand your chili?" said Johnny. More laughter.  
"Now-now look, just because you guys are...un-cultured-"  
"i_'Un-cultured'_/i?" Marco cut him off. "What the heck are you talking about, Chet?"  
"Well, all I'm saying is that-"  
"Mike, Marco? Do you have anything planned for Valentine's day?" the Cap spoke up.  
"Not really cap..." said Mike, thankful for the Cap's interruption. "I was just planning on ordering a pizza and inviting Marco to watch the game over a few beers."  
"Not exactly romantic, but it works," Chet teased. "Why don't you buy him some chocolates to spice up your evening?" He got a collective glare from Mike and Marco.  
"What about you, Roy?" the Cap turned to Roy, who had been mostly quiet for the whole time.  
"Well, I...I've got a date with a Rampart nurse...named Betty," he said.  
Sounds and nods of approval came from four of the other fireman at the table, but Johnny narrowed his eyes.  
"Betty, huh?" Marco said. "What's she like?"  
"Well, she's got...dark brown hair, and green eyes...Nice smile..."  
More sounds of approval.  
"And...she's kind...smart...very sexy," Roy said, resisting the urge to see Johnny's reaction to his last comment. "She asked _me_ out, actually...I'm going to pick her up at five tomorrow and take her to Rizzeti's...and she asked for my number, too..."  
Chet whistled. "Boy, DeSoto...looks like you're onto something, there..."  
"Yeah, when do we get to meet her?" asked Marco.  
"Oh, I-I dunno..." Roy said, smiling. "I-I'm not even really sure it's going to work out yet."  
"I don't know, Roy, she sounds pretty serious."  
Johnny scoffed. This time Roy was unable to resist looking up at him.  
"Well, what's with you?" The Cap asked. "You should be happy for your partner!"  
"He's just jealous, 'cos Roy's got a date with one of the Rampart nurses and he doesn't," Chet chimed in. "Isn't that right, Johnny-Boy?"  
Johnny sent him an evil glare.  
"Don't tell me, our own Mr. Gage, the Casanova of LA county, has _no one_ to spend his Valentine's day with?" The Cap said, giving Johnny a look.  
_Not you,_ too_, Cap..._Johnny thought, rolling his eyes.  
Five pairs of eyes stared expectantly at Johnny.  
"Oh, who needs Valentine's day, anyway?" Johnny said. "It's just for old married couples and teenagers."  
The Captain gave a questioning look to his young paramedic, but said nothing.  
Mike saw an opportunity to change the subject and took it. "Um, so what about you Cap? You doing anything special with Jane?"  
Johnny silently gave thanks for Mike's interjection.  
"We're staying in for Valentine's day...Jane's mom and dad are going to take the kids for a few days, so we can have the house to ourselves."  
Roy, Mike, and Marco smiled and nodded, Chet winked, and Johnny just sat there.  
So Roy had a date with Betty, huh? Why hadn't he told him about it earlier?  
_Doesn't he trust me enough to tell me when he's got a date, or did our problem from earlier really run that deep?_

Johnny was still bothered about Roy's date the moment he woke up. He knew it had something to do with his dislike for Betty...but...there was more to it than that, and he just couldn't quite put his finger on it.  
He was unusually quiet as he changed into his civilian's clothes that morning, lost in his own thoughts.  
"...I don't really know what to make of it-" Roy hesitated, noticing that Johnny hadn't paid him a shred of attention since he started talking. "Johnny?"  
_But...Betty's not sexy..._Johnny was thinking as he buttoned up his shirt. making a face.  
"Johnny," Roy said again, raising his voice a little.  
Johnny blinked at looked up at Roy. "Huh? Did you say something?"  
"I've been talking to you for about five minutes now, but...you haven't heard a word, huh?" Roy sighed. "What's bothering you?"  
"I...don't want to talk about it," he said, turning back to his locker to get out his jeans.  
"Come on, Johnny. Out with it," Roy said, zipping up his own jeans. "What's buggin' you?"  
"Nothing," Johnny said, stepping into his jeans.  
"No, you can't go back on yourself," said Roy, pointing at him. "You acknowledged that there was something going on when you said you didn't want to talk about it."  
"Well, forget it, alright? I said I don't want to talk about it, and I'm not gonna talk about it!" said Johnny, rasing his voice a little as he quickly zipped up his pants and buttoned them.  
Roy was completely confused at Johnny's behaviour as he watched him put on his sweater and walk out the door.  
If there was something else going on that had Johnny sore at him, he had no idea what it was...he just hoped that it would cool down on Johnny's days off.

* * *

_AN_: Whoa there...sorry for the wonky formatting, but I'm having trouble fixing it.  
So I was writing this chapter and realised that it was getting much too long (a word count of 10,000, whereas my other chapters only have 5-8,000 words...so I figured I'd break it into two. I'm almost done with the last chapter. XD

DISCLAIMER  
This is just for fun...I'm not trying to mess with the story that has been established, I just wanted to see what might happen if I changed the conditions a bit.  
(So, please, understand...I'm only doing this for fun and I'm not trying to start anything, so...give it a chance before you shoot me...please?)  
This is just a wild, hare-brained idea I got, so if you like it, thanks in advance.

ALSO: I'd be interested to know what everyone thinks of the Crazy Cat Lady...I have a series of her crazy rescues that I could post as a separate thing...so if anyone wants to see that, just let me know.


	6. CH 6 Roses are Red

ALTERNATE REALITY:

CONDITIONS-

ROY IS NOT MARRIED

ROY HAS NEVER MET JOANNE

KELLY BRACKETT AND DIXIE McCALL ARE NOT TOGETHER (YET)

DIFFERENT (MADE-UP) STREET NAMES

CHAPTER 6- ROSES ARE RED...

-%-

Johnny caught himself speeding on the way back to his apartment, so he slowed down a bit.

He couldn't understand why Roy's date with Betty kept coming back into his thoughts and bothering the hell out of him. It wasn't like he should care either way, right? This was Roy's deal, and he had no part in it.

Maybe that was it. He had no part in it.

It was Valentine's Day, and here he was; Johnny Gage: quite easily the Cassanova of LA County...plan-less, pissed off, and completely alone.

He sighed as he trudged up the stairs to his apartment. He kicked off his shoes and walked into his kitchen, trying to push it out of his thoughts, but no matter how much he tried to forget it, he couldn't stop thinking about Betty and her stupid doe-eyes.

Why hadn't Roy told him he was going out with Betty? Did she tell him not to? Maybe Roy knew he'd try to talk him out of it?

It's not like there was really anything special about her...except for those damned green doe eyes that she had. Ok, yeah, maybe she was _kinda_ pretty, but that was it! Other than that, she was annoying! Asking Roy all those stupid questions...he could tell that she was only pretending to be interested! If anyone was actually interested in Roy's life, it was his partner! Beside that, she didn't deserve his time! If anyone deserved Roy's time, it was his partner!

Johnny stopped in his tracks and sighed.

He couldn't deny the truth anymore. He wasn't jealous that Roy had a date with Betty. He was jealous that Betty had a date with _Roy._

Johnny went into his bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror, carefully studying his own face.

"What is _wrong_ with me?" he said aloud to the face he saw in the mirror.

Unfortunately, it was just a reflection and couldn't answer the question for him.

But he knew the answer. Deep down inside, he knew that there was nothing wrong with him. He had no clue why, or when or how it had happened, but he had feelings for Roy, and he wasn't just gonna stand idly by while Roy dated someone else.

He suddenly remembered what Roy had said at dinner the night before.

_I'm going to pick her up at five tomorrow and take her to Rizzeti's..._

Rizzeti's was in Bellflower. He'd been there before.

He sighed.

"I'm going to do something really stupid at 5:00," Johnny told his reflection, which simply mouthed the words back at him.

-%-

"Wow, Roy...this place has class..." Betty said, looking around the small, family owned Italian restaurant.

The walls were painted a warm cinnamon, and there were potted plants hanging from the ceiling. Flowers grew in every corner, and a little waterfall fountain bubbled by the windows. Maps and pictures of places in Italy adorned the walls.

"I hope you like Pinot Grigio..." said Roy as they sat. "They have the best in town."

"Then it's a good thing I like Pinot Grigio..." said Betty, her green eyes seeming to sparkle.

Roy smiled at her. She was really very beautiful, but he still wasn't sure how he felt about this...In fact, he was really nervous that he'd screw something up.

It just...didn't seem right somehow...like he was pretending to be what he thought she wanted him to be...like he was faking it...because he couldn't have Johnny. He shook the feeling off and decided to at least try to enjoy himself when the waiter came with the menus.

"Good evening, señora; señor. What would you like to drink?" asked the waiter, setting the menus down in front of the both of them.

Johnny pulled into a space in the Rizzeti's parking lot. Checking his watch, he saw that it was 5:25.

He turned off the car and sat in his seat, hesitating. His thoughts were desperately trying to talk him out of going inside.

_Is this even the right place? Maybe you've got the wrong place._

He stared at the restaurant he was parked in front of. There was only one Rizzeti's in the entire city of Los Angeles, and this was it.

_Should I really do this?_ He asked himself._ I should just go back home..._

He rested his head on the steering wheel.

_Then what am I doing here? I got into my car and drove here...if I really feel that strongly about it, why the hell am I sitting here wasting my time?  
_

He finally opened his door and got out of the car, heading towards the restaurant.

He stalled for a moment, smiling and holding the door for a couple that was leaving. They smiled back and thanked him. _I'm about to do the stupidest thing I have ever done..._He kept thinking.

_I am an idiot. A complete and total..._

He walked into the restaurant, looking for Roy's table. He finally spotted them in the corner by the waterfall fountain.

_Idiot._

"Yeah, uh...we get about five or six calls a day," Roy was saying. "Unless we have a particularly hard shift one day..."

Betty nodded, taking a bite of her angel hair pasta.

"Then, we may have as many as nine or ten." Roy was running out of things to talk about. All Betty seemed to want to do was listen to him talk, and he was getting kind of tired of it. She'd just ask him a question and listen. He'd never had a date that felt so much like an interview! He didn't even know anything about her yet!

"So...um," he began, trying to get the spotlight off of himself. "Where are you from?"

"Oh, you know..." she giggled. "Here and there."

Roy waited for her to continue, but she didn't, so he prompted her again.

"You, um...moved around a lot?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said, then quickly changed the subject again. "So how long did it take you to become a fireman? Was that all you ever wanted to do?"

Roy inwardly sighed. It was gonna be a long night.

"Yeah, I knew when I was real little that I wanted to be a fireman, just like my brother," he said. "And it didn't take that long to become one, just about a half a year at the academy."

"Wow..." Betty said, taking another bite of her pasta. "That's so cute, about your brother."

"Yeah, um…thanks…So, um…did you always want to be a nurse?" Roy tried again.

"Yup! Since I was ten years old!" Betty said excitedly...but it ended there.

"Wow," said Roy. "Wow, that's young...yeah..." Roy smiled and took a bite of his chicken parmesan. His date was really going nowhere. He almost wished he was working with C-shift back at the station. At least _then_ he would know what he was doing.

Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye; something that made his heart skip a beat.

He looked up to see Johnny approaching the table, hands in his back pockets, looking nervous.

Roy could only stare at him.

"Hey, Roy? I'm sorr-look, I, uh...I need to talk to you, ok?" Johnny said, rubbing the back of his head.

Roy was so stunned, he couldn't think of anything to say. He just stared up at Johnny until he thought to say, "W-what are you...doing here?"

"That's what I'd like to know..." Betty said, narrowing her eyes at the newcomer.

"Look, Roy, please, just-I just need to talk to you for a minute," Johnny said. "Alone?" he added, sending Betty a glance.

"Roy, what is going on here?" Betty asked, staring at Roy.

"Um...I..." Roy stammered, unsure of what to do. Part of him was happy to see Johnny, and part of him was angry that Johnny had the audacity to show up uninvited like this. Johnny's behaviour over the past few days had been very confusing, and now this...he definitely wasn't making things any easier!

Roy hesitated, knowing that he really should tell Johnny to leave, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. Instead, he found himself getting up from the table, apologising to Betty, and following Johnny out to his car.

-%-

"Alright, what do you want?" Roy asked, closing the car door.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a date with her earlier?" Johnny blurted.

Roy stared at his partner. "_This_ is what you brought me out here for? I didn't think it would matter to you, either way!" Roy said. "I thought that what I do on my own time was my own damn business!"

"Well, it does matter to me, Roy," Johnny said, looking out his window. "She's just not the right person for you."

Roy stared at Johnny, taken aback at his sudden audacity. "Oh, I'm sorry, but who the _hell_ gave _you_ the right to say who I do and don't date?!" Roy said.

"Are you even really interested in her?!" Johnny asked, looking back at his partner.

"Well...no, but I figured I should at least try. I thought you _wanted_ me to move on with my life!"

Johnny scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You're stupid, Roy, can't you see—"

"And you're jealous!" Roy shouted, pointing a finger at Johnny.

Johnny hesitated. He held his mouth open, but no sound came out. After a minute, he closed it and looked down at the floor.

"Yes. Ok? Yes I _am _jealous," he admitted.

Roy rolled his eyes and reached for the door handle. "Agh...This is just because she's a Rampart nurse, isn't it-look, I don't have time for this, I have a date to get back t-"

"NO, Roy, that's _not_ it! Will you quit bein' stupid?" Johnny said through gritted teeth, grabbing Roy's arm to stop him from leaving the car. "Dammit, I'm tryin' to tell you that _she can't have you_, because _I won't let her_!"

Roy stopped short. He stared at his partner, his mouth open. Had he just heard him right? Just to make sure, he blinked and said, "...What?"

"Oh, for cryin' out lou-Roy! Just-" Without another word, Johnny gave an irritated scoff and grabbed Roy by the front of his shirt, smashing his lips against Roy's.

A shiver shot down Roy's spine. He grabbed onto Johnny's shoulders to steady himself, staring wide-eyed at Johnny's face; so close to his he could barely focus on him...or was he having trouble focusing because he was suddenly dizzy?

After the initial shock wore off, Roy slowly shut his eyes and allowed himself to relax. He let his hands slowly travel down Johnny's back as he deepened the kiss.

Johnny tingled all over. He felt crazy! This was _Roy_ he was kissing! He'd never even thought of his partner as anywhere near _available_ until that morning...and even then, it was still a bit of a shock to him. It felt like he was breaking all the rules...he was almost tempted to pull away out of embarrassment, but instead, he kissed harder.

It wasn't really any different from kissing a woman...well, except that Roy kinda needed a shave. It was a funny feeling.

As he ran his fingers through Roy's hair, Roy hummed against his lips and held him tighter. Johnny inwardly smirked. It was kinda nice, having so much of Roy's attention…but there was one thing he had to say, now that he had the courage to do it.

Johnny reluctantly broke the kiss and looked down at the floor, clearing his throat.

"Look, Roy...I just wanted to say that...I'm sorry I blamed you for everything...and I'm sorry I was such an ass this whole time. I just...didn't want to face the fact that I kinda...well, that I was startin' to...y'know _like_ all the attention you were giving me," he said, keeping his eyes on the floor. "And when you stopped givin' it to me...Well, I couldn't just sit there and let you give it to someone else, could I?" He paused. "Man, that sounds pretty selfish of me, doesn't it?"

Roy shrugged. "We'll, yeah, but that doesn't mean I wasn't selfish, too. I was selfish to kiss you and...I didn't think about the consequences of my actions."

"Well..." Johnny looked at the floor again. "I have to confess that...I actually kinda liked the kiss...and…that's what scared me. I mean, you're my partner. I didn't _want_ to think about you that way, cos...y'know...and so...I reacted. I took it out on you...and...nothing makes that right. So...I'm sorry." Johnny rested his head on Roy's shoulder, making Roy smile a little.

"It's alright Johnny. I forgive you...if you can forgive me."

Johnny smiled and looked up at his partner. He didn't have to say a word; his kiss was worth much more.

They kissed for a while, until Roy actually remembered where he was.

"Mmm..Johnny..." he said after a minute, reluctantly breaking the kiss.

"What?" Johnny replied, giving his partner a concerned look.

"You…completely ruined my date..." Roy said, causing Johnny's eyes to widen in disbelief.

"What?!" he said.

Roy chuckled at Johnny's horrified expression. "Relax! I'm just kidding you, Johnny. I was actually pretty miserable in there. Thanks for rescuing me."

Relieved, Johnny relaxed and laid his head back on Roy's shoulder. "Oh..._jeez_...You're _welcome_," he said.

"She's a nice girl, but...All she seems to want to do is ask me questions...I hardly know anything about her," Roy said, shaking his head.

"I _told_ you she wasn't the right person for you, Roy," said Johnny, giving his partner a look.

"Well, what about you, Johnny? Are you the right person for me?" Roy asked, looking straight into Johnny's eyes.

Johnny blushed and looked away, unable to look back into Roy's eyes.

"Wel-I, um...I-I think we'll definitely have to explore that question," he said, nodding and looking everywhere but at Roy. Roy smiled and started to kiss Johnny's neck, making Johnny shudder and trip over his words. "A-at least, uh, that'd be my...mmprofessional opinion...You know, as the, ahh...person...who decides...w-who you...do and don't date."

Roy chuckled and shook his head, looking back at his partner. "Johnny," he said.

"What?" asked Johnny as he gasped for air.

Roy grinned. "You're a nut," he said, kissing Johnny's cheek.

Johnny laughed. "Well, I hear you like nuts," he retorted.

-%-

Roy's face was red as a beet as he and Johnny walked back into the building. He couldn't bring himself to look at Betty as he sat back down at the table, so he just stared at his half-eaten plate of Chicken Parmesan. Emotionally, he was stuck somewhere halfway between embarrassment and elation.

Betty stared at the both of them. "Roy what's going-" she stopped short, giving Johnny a horrified look when he pulled up a chair.

"Ex...cuse you?" she said, staring at Johnny.

Johnny just smiled at her and rested his elbows on the table, reaching over and sampling Roy's glass of wine.

"Mmm," Johnny said. "That's pretty good."

"...Best in town," Roy said quietly, fighting off a smile.

Betty gaped at the two of them. "What is going _on_ here, Roy?"

Roy shook his head. He didn't know what to say, but he knew he had every right to remain silent.

Betty sat and looked between the two men for a moment; Roy was staring at his food, and Johnny was staring at her, as if he were expecting something from her.

"...Would you mind...going away?" Betty asked Johnny after a minute, making a shooing gesture with her hands.

"Yes, actually, I would mind," Johnny said, making himself more comfortable in his chair.

"Um, in case you haven't noticed, Roy and I...are on a date, and you're kind of intruding!" Betty said.

"That's the idea," Johnny said, flashing her his lopsided grin.

Roy fought the temptation to either laugh or plant his face in his food.

Betty gave Roy a desperate look. "Would you please ask him to leave?"

Roy hesitated, finally looking up at her. "I..." He paused, looking at Johnny, who smiled. "I can't...do that," he said quietly.

"What? Well, why in the world not?" she stared at him incredulously.

"Well, I...The truth is..." He looked to Johnny for some help.

"He's in love with me," Johnny said to her behind his hand, winking and drinking another sip of Roy's wine.

Betty's pretty eyes nearly bugged out of her skull. She was speechless for a moment, seething. She glanced between the both of them before something clicked in her mind and she suddenly narrowed her eyes at Johnny.

"That's what you came here for. You came here to ruin our date," Betty said darkly. "I can't believe you two." She looked at Roy. "You did this just to ruin my night, didn't you? Did you two plan this out over a few beers? Huh? I'll bet you did! Let's just..._fuck_ with Betty, that'll be _FUN_! AGH. MEN!" Betty screeched, splashing what was left of her wine in Roy's face and storming out of the restaurant.

Despite himself and the whole crowd of people that had begun to stare, Roy began to chuckle. Pretty soon, he couldn't help himself and laughed out loud.

He laughed so hard that tears began to stream down his face, like what had just happened to him was the funniest thing in the whole wide world.

Johnny gawked at him.

"What's so funny?" he asked when Roy's laughter had died down a bit, and the onlookers began to get on with their own meals.

"You know, Johnny," Roy said, wiping tears and expensive Pinot Grigio out of his eyes. "I think that's the most she actually talked to me all night."

-%-

Johnny and Roy walked out into the parking lot towards their cars.

"What do you think Betty's gonna do?" Johnny couldn't help asking.

"I don't know...I didn't want to hurt her, but...I don't think...well, I don't think I did anything wrong. I mean, God. Nothing about these past two weeks has...made any sense! It's not like I had a clue what I was doing..." Roy said. "I feel kinda bad about tonight, but it really couldn't be helped-"

He stopped short when he felt Johnny's hand close around his. He looked at Johnny and then at their two separate cars, a sinking feeling settling in.

They were silent for a moment.

"Well..." said Johnny.

He didn't want that to be _it_...he didn't want to just...get in his car and drive home...Not after what he'd just done...but unfortunately, he hadn't given much thought to what was going to happen afterwards.

He opened his mouth to say something else, but Roy beat him to it.

"Johnny," Roy said. "Come home with me."

Johnny was a little surprised by Roy's bluntness...but he couldn't see himself refusing. There was still this new aspect to their relationship that he hadn't explored much of yet, and given the taste of it that he'd gotten in his car, he wanted nothing more than to explore it now.

Johnny nodded. The two men walked over to their respective cars, but they were headed for the same destination.

-%-

Roy was the first one to his house. He sat stiffly on the couch while he waited for Johnny, but he couldn't sit still for long. He kept glancing at his watch.

Five minutes passed.

Seven.

What was taking Johnny so long!?

Finally, he got up and started pacing to try to calm his nerves.

Roy had invited Johnny back to his house without really thinking about what they would...do for the rest of the night.

Well, Roy knew _exactly_ what he wanted to do with Johnny, but...He'd never even considered how to go about it...

He kind of had an idea, but—

Johnny's soft knock on the door made Roy jump. He took a deep breath to calm himself before he walked over to open the door.

Johnny stood on the other side, sheepishly holding a single red rose in his hand.

"...Stopped to, uh...get this...for you..." he mumbled, looking at the floor. "I know it's, ah...corny, but...Happy...Valentine's day."

Roy smiled at his partner's thoughtfulness.

"No, it's not corny at all, Johnny...Uh, come in," Roy said, stepping back and letting Johnny in. They both hesitated for a minute. Just because the rose wasn't corny didn't mean the situation was any less awkward. The two men stood there for a moment, blushing and avoiding each other's eyes, before Roy finally shut the door behind Johnny and walked into the kitchen.

"You can, uh...sit down if you want," Roy said, smiling nervously. "I'd...better get a vase for this flower..."

"Yeah," Johnny said, sitting down on the couch and looking around Roy's clean and tidy house. He watched Roy fill a vase for the flower at the sink, trying to think of something to say.

"I was just...driving by that one flower shop...and y'know...I saw the red roses and...thought of you...? They were open late so..." He sighed and laughed at himself. "Damn, I'm just not good at this. How are you s'posed to impress a man?"

Johnny shrugged and let his smile fade. "Well...I haven't really been able to impress the ladies recently either," he said with a hint of sourness in his voice. "I guess impressing people just isn't something I do well..."

Roy brought the vase with him to the couch and set it on the coffee table.

"I beg to differ," Roy said, sitting next to Johnny. "You impress me all the time."

Johnny looked up at his partner. "I do?"

Roy nodded. "You also scare the hell out of me in the process, but...every time you volunteer to put your life at risk for other people, you seem to do it without a second thought...you care about others much more than you worry about yourself, and...well, that impresses me."

Roy's words were so thoughtful, Johnny didn't know what to say. He almost couldn't believe what he was hearing. He finally managed, "I-...it does?"

Roy gave his partner a look. "Would I lie to you about that?"

Johnny blushed and looked down. "Well, no, I-I know you wouldn't...but I jus-I couldn't-I just didn't know what to say, so I-"

Roy smiled at his partner and interrupted his babbling by wrapping his arms around him and holding him close.

Johnny relaxed in his partner's arms. Just like that, all the stress from the past few days seemed to melt away, and he nuzzled into his partner's neck.

He didn't feel like he had to worry about anything anymore. He didn't have to try so hard with Roy. He'd been trying so hard with everyone he'd met...trying to hide his imperfections from the world.

But as much as he'd tried, he couldn't hide from Roy...who had accepted him, imperfections and all.

-%-

They finally made love.

Johnny closed his eyes and tried to control his breathing. What he'd just experienced…was amazing.

He'd never felt a connection like that with another human being before. He had even been a little scared in the beginning that he would regret this later…but as he lay there, enjoying the feeling of Roy's weight on his back, he knew he would never regret it as long as he lived.

He smiled. "Hey, Roy?"

"Hmm?" came the reply. He sounded exhausted.

"Want to…do it again?" Johnny asked, smiling.

Roy laughed, rolling of Johnny and onto his side. "Again?"

Johnny felt a sense of loss when Roy rolled away, and turned to face his partner, putting a hand on Roy's chest and entwining their legs. "Yeah. Again."

Roy chuckled and kissed his partner on the forehead. "I think we ought to wait a while…you tired me out."

Johnny smiled. Everything about this felt right somehow. He thought back on the two weeks that he'd spent agonizing over what was "right" and what was "wrong" and what people would think…when he really should have listened to his heart…and his body.

When Roy had kissed him that night two weeks ago, he had wanted to kiss Roy back. He had been curious about it…but when Roy's kiss had started to arouse him, he'd shut down. He was too afraid to explore it. He'd had to keep up appearances. He couldn't be gay…he was a fireman!

He was just now realising how foolish he'd been.

He knew the night Boot had shoved him off his bed that somebody was trying to tell him something.

He'd slept in Roy's bed…felt safe in Roy's arms…and confused the hell out of himself. Then he'd just gotten angry, and he hadn't even really known why. But now that he thought about it, the real reason he'd been angry was that he couldn't keep up appearances and date Roy at the same time.

He frowned a little. How important was it to keep up appearances? He looked up at Roy and smiled. Roy was more important to him than that…but…

He touched Roy's face and a sad expression darkened his eyes. He knew they would meet people who wouldn't be so accepting of their newfound love...because they couldn't handle their fear. Just like Johnny hadn't been able to do in the beginning.

Those were the people that had the potential to be very dangerous.

"What are you thinking about?" Roy asked, rubbing Johnny's cheek with his thumb.

Johnny sighed. "I don't know…" He closed his eyes. "I know I shouldn't care what other people think, but…I'm afraid there might be some people out there who…you know, don't like what we do."

Roy rubbed Johnny's neck and kissed him. "Well, it's none of their business who we're sleeping with anyway."

"Yeah, but…"

"I know. people are always going to ask about relationships."

Johnny sighed. "I…guess I gotta make them think I'm still chasing nurses."

Roy smiled a little. "Well, sure, we can bend the truth a little bit…as long as you don't actually catch any of those nurses you chase."

Johnny smiled and snuggled closer to Roy. "Hey, I won't. Remember? I have terrible luck with women."

Roy laughed. "So do I, Johnny. I'm glad I finally know why."

-%-

They ended up making love twice that night.

Johnny nuzzled against Roy's cheek as they lay there, eyes closed and breathing heavily.

"You really wear me out, you know that?" Roy mumbled.

"Mmm…" Johnny smiled and kissed Roy's cheek. "You complaining?"

Roy smiled too. "Nope."

Johnny laughed and laid his head on Roy's shoulder. "Well…You're not so bad yourself."

Roy chuckled and put his arms around Johnny. He let out a contented sigh. He hadn't been so happy in a long time.

"I don't want this to stop..." he said suddenly.

"What?" Johnny asked, looking up at his partner.

Roy looked into his eyes. "I don't want this to be the end," he said. "Johnny, I want to make love to you every night we have off. I want to be right there with you, showing you how much you mean to me..." he paused, hoping what he was about to say next wouldn't scare Johnny. "I love you."

Johnny stared in surprise at his partner for a while, slowly taking in what he'd just heard. It caught him completely off-guard. He hadn't expected Roy to use the word "love" so soon...

Love? Him? Sure, people had said it to Johnny before...The difference here was that, aside from his family, he didn't know if any of those other people meant it...but Roy? Roy was a man of his word. Johnny knew that Roy meant it with all his heart.

"I...I don't know what to say..." Johnny said, blushing and looking away from Roy's intense gaze.

"Please, Johnny..." Roy said. "Say you love me too."

Johnny looked back into Roy's eyes.

He'd known this man for three years. They'd been through happy times and hell together. They'd been there for each other when no one else was. They'd saved each other's lives time and again.

He knew that his feelings for Roy were special. They went beyond partnership. Beyond friendship.

He brought his lips to Roy's and kissed him. Into that kiss he put all his tenderness and all his gratitude.

"I love you too, Roy," he whispered.

* * *

AN- WOW. I'm so sorry this took me forever to post! Life has hit hard, and I was super busy last semester! I've finally gotten some extra time, so I am going to try to finish this story soon! It just keeps getting longer and longer, so hopefully chapter 7 will be the actual ending.

Anyway, happy belated Valentine's day! (For any of those wondering, I did write out a sex scene for this, but it's really long, and pretty graphic, so for any of you wanting to read it, I posted it on Deviant Art ( art/Emergency-All-the-Wrong-Places-CH-6-354499860). Warning, though: I mature-contented it, so you have to be 18 yrs or older to read it. I'm sorry if this inconveniences anyone...if it does, send me a private message and we'll work something out.)

Thanks for sticking with this story! I hope it was worth the wait!

Tell me what you think!


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